Putin repeats that Russia will consider sending weapons to the West’s adversaries

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Russia would consider sending weapons to Western adversaries who supply arms to Ukraine, repeating a warning made days earlier.

He did not specify where such weapons might be sent, saying only that it could be “states or even other legal entities that are under certain pressure, including military (pressure), from countries that send weapons to Ukraine and encourage it to use them. against us, against Russian territory.

He also stressed that Moscow is not currently doing this.

“If they supply weapons to the combat zone and call for using these weapons against our territory, why don’t we have the right to do the same?” Putin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. “But I am not ready to say that we will do it tomorrow either.”

The Russian president had earlier said the Russian economy was growing despite heavy international sanctions and that the country had strengthened economic ties with countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia as he sought to attract investors to the forum. The event has been used by Russia for decades as a showcase for the country’s development, though Western officials and investors have avoided the session since sanctions cut off much of Russia’s trade with Western Europe, the United States and its allies.

Speaking to the presidents of Bolivia and Zimbabwe and business leaders, Putin said Russia “remains one of the main players in global trade” despite the country being under tough sanctions for sending troops to Ukraine.

The main driver of Russia’s economic growth is the fighting in Ukraine, now as important to the Kremlin economically as it is politically.

Russians are discovering some imported commodities, and most global brands have disappeared – or have been reincarnated as Russian equivalents. But the rest has not changed much economically for most people, with massive state spending on military equipment and large sums paid to volunteer soldiers providing a strong boost to the economy.

Putin has tightly controlled his media appearances since sending his forces into Ukraine, but he took questions from international journalists, including some from Western countries he has criticized, on the sidelines of the forum on Wednesday.

At the meeting, Putin warned that Russia could provide long-range weapons to other countries to strike Western targets in response to NATO allies allowing Ukraine to use their weapons to attack Russian territory. He also reaffirmed Moscow’s willingness to use nuclear weapons if it believes its sovereignty is threatened.

Last year, journalists from countries that Russia considers hostile – including the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union – were not invited to the forum.

The Associated Press