Putin warns West that Russia is prepared to use ‘all weapons’ to protect Kaliningrad

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned the West against escalating the war in Ukraine , saying Moscow is prepared to use “all weapons” in its arsenal — including nuclear — if its Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad comes under attack.

Speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow on Thursday, the Russian leader said he had no plans to attack any European country but was prepared to respond to Western aggression if necessary and referenced the Russian territory sandwiched between NATO members Poland and Lithuania.

His warning follows recent military drills by NATO near Kaliningrad that the bloc has described as defensive exercises to strengthen deterrence. Those exercises have prompted strong concerns from Moscow, which warned in late September it would retaliate if NATO attempted to blockade the exclave by air or sea.

“The drills in the Baltic Sea, following one another … Then the attempts to arrest our ships and vessels. All this is an escalation. And then we began to hear statements regarding the Kaliningrad region,” Putin said.

“If it comes to direct attack against the Russian Federation, in this case on Kaliningrad and possibly some other territories, of course the issue of using all weapons in our country’s arsenal will inevitably and unavoidably emerge on the agenda. This is unavoidable,” he cautioned.

NATO, several European countries and the United Kingdom have accused Russia of conducting hybrid warfare against them, including cyberattacks, sabotage and espionage attempts, aimed at breaking their support for Ukraine.

Russia’s war in Ukraine, dubbed by Moscow as a “special military operation,” is now in its fifth year, but Putin shows no sign of slowing his offensive and has instead intensified strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and its capital city of Kyiv ahead of an anticipated bitterly cold winter.

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But recent Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia’s oil refineries have led to widespread fuel shortages, shattering the illusion that the consequences of the conflict are far removed from ordinary Russians.

Long queues of cars at fuel stations have been seen in major cities, while hits on Russia’s largest online retailers have increased pressure on the already strained wartime economy.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky regularly refers to Ukrainian drone strikes deep inside Russian territory as “long-range sanctions,” designed to reduce Russia’s revenues, military capacity and push the Kremlin into negotiations.

In his speech Thursday to foreign policy and international affairs academics, Putin admitted the Ukrainian strikes were taking a toll on Russia’s economy, saying they had cost Russia 1% of its gross domestic product (GDP) and that Ukrainian military maneuvers in the Black Sea have taken out over 100 Russian ships.

However, Putin also made clear he remains undeterred.

“In the Black Sea — that’s a combat zone; we struck military vessels and ships transporting military cargo, and we hardly ever made a mistake. Throughout this whole saga, they [Ukraine] have knocked out over 100 of our ships. Well, we started hitting back, and now we’re being bombarded from every direction with appeals: “Oh, please stop doing that,” Putin said.

“It’s the same story with our oil refineries; they (Ukraine) openly declared their goal was to damage our economy. Did they succeed? Partially — by our estimates, we lost about one percent of our GDP. And it was done deliberately — these are civilian targets, after all. Well, they got a mirror-image response,” Putin added, sidestepping that it was Moscow who launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Putin’s admission of the economic toll comes just one day after he told newly elected members of the State Duma — the lower house of Russia’s parliament, which predictably saw the United Russia party that backs Putin hold onto its majority — that the Russian economy was stable.

Taking the opportunity to swipe at Ukraine, the Russian president on Wednesday derided Kyiv’s reliance on financial assistance from its Western allies.

Ruling pro-Putin party set to win Russia’s tightly controlled wartime parliamentary election

“Mistakes, especially now, are absolutely unacceptable,” he warned parliamentarians. “Unlike some, and we won’t point fingers, Russia can’t run around the world humiliating (itself) by begging for handouts with an outstretched hand,” he said.

“Firstly, because, as I have already said, it is humiliating. Secondly, no one is going to give us anything, and we know that very well. And thirdly, and most importantly, we do not need it. Russia’s financial system and economy are secure,” he continued.

While signaling in recent weeks that he does not intend to draw back from the war in Ukraine, Putin also said he would prefer the conflict to end through talks.

Ahead of the election, Putin had said the results would show Russians are united by the military and its goals — though the Levada Center, an independent pollster, found in an August poll that 59% of Russians favored moving to peace talks.

In a further sign that Putin does not plan to slow down the “special military operation,” budget documents reviewed by Reuters show that Russia plans to spend 17.1 trillion rubles ($205.112 billion) on defense in 2027, about 27% more than originally budgeted and the highest level since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

伊戈尔·伊万科/法新社/盖蒂图片社

俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京警告西方不要升级乌克兰战争，称如果其波罗的海飞地加里宁格勒遭到攻击，莫斯科准备使用其武库中的“所有武器”，包括核武器。

俄罗斯领导人周四在莫斯科瓦尔代国际辩论俱乐部发表讲话时表示，他没有攻击任何欧洲国家的计划，但如果需要，他准备对西方的侵略行为作出回应。他还提到了位于北约成员国波兰和立陶宛之间的俄罗斯领土。

他的警告是在北约近期在加里宁格勒附近举行军事演习之后发出的。北约称这些演习是旨在加强威慑的防御性演习。这些演习引发了莫斯科的强烈担忧。莫斯科在9月下旬警告称，如果北约试图从空中或海上封锁这块飞地，俄罗斯将进行报复。

“波罗的海的演习接连不断……然后又试图扣押我们的船只。这一切都是局势升级。之后，我们又开始听到有关加里宁格勒地区的声明，”普京说道。

“如果事态发展到直接攻击俄罗斯联邦，比如攻击加里宁格勒以及其他一些地区，那么动用我国武库中所有武器的问题当然不可避免地会提上日程。这是无法回避的，”他警告说。

北约、几个欧洲国家和英国指责俄罗斯对他们进行混合战争，包括网络攻击、破坏和间谍活动，目的是破坏他们对乌克兰的支持。

俄罗斯在乌克兰的战争，被莫斯科称为“特殊军事行动”，如今已进入第五年，但普京没有丝毫放慢攻势的迹象，反而加大了对乌克兰能源基础设施和首都基辅的打击力度，以应对即将到来的严寒冬季。

尼古拉塔斯托亚诺娃/盖蒂图片社

但最近乌克兰无人机对俄罗斯炼油厂的袭击导致大范围燃料短缺，打破了冲突的后果与普通俄罗斯人相距甚远的幻想。

各大城市的加油站都出现了长长的汽车队伍，而俄罗斯最大的在线零售商遭受的打击也加剧了本已紧张的战时经济的压力。

乌克兰总统泽连斯基经常将乌克兰无人机深入俄罗斯领土的袭击称为“远程制裁”，其目的是减少俄罗斯的收入、军事能力，并迫使克里姆林宫进行谈判。

普京周四在对外交政策和国际事务学者发表的讲话中承认，乌克兰的袭击正在对俄罗斯经济造成损失，称这些袭击使俄罗斯损失了1%的国内生产总值（GDP），并且乌克兰在黑海的军事行动已经击沉了100多艘俄罗斯船只。

然而，普京也明确表示，他仍然毫不气馁。

“在黑海——那是战区；我们袭击了军舰和运送军用物资的船只，而且我们几乎从未犯错。在整个事件中，他们（乌克兰）击沉了我们100多艘船只。好吧，我们开始反击，现在我们却四面八方都遭到呼吁：‘哦，请停止这样做，’”普京说道。

“我们的炼油厂也遭遇了同样的命运；他们（乌克兰）公开宣称他们的目标是破坏我们的经济。他们成功了吗？部分成功——据我们估计，我们损失了大约百分之一的GDP。而且这是蓄意为之——毕竟，这些都是民用目标。好吧，他们得到了相应的回应，”普京补充道，同时回避了莫斯科在2022年2月对乌克兰发动全面入侵的事实。

普京承认经济损失的前一天，他还告诉新当选的国家杜马（俄罗斯议会下院）议员，俄罗斯经济稳定。不出所料，支持普京的统一俄罗斯党保住了其多数席位。

俄罗斯总统周三借机抨击乌克兰，嘲讽基辅依赖西方盟友的财政援助。

亲普京的执政党有望赢得俄罗斯战时议会选举，此次选举受到严格控制。

“犯错，尤其是在当下，是绝对不可接受的，”他警告议员们。“与某些国家不同——我们不会指名道姓——俄罗斯不能像某些国家那样，伸手乞求施舍，在世界各地丢尽脸面，”他说。

“首先，正如我刚才所说，这很屈辱。其次，没有人会给我们任何东西，我们非常清楚这一点。第三，也是最重要的一点，我们不需要它。俄罗斯的金融体系和经济是安全的，”他继续说道。

尽管普京在最近几周发出信号，表示他无意从乌克兰战争中撤军，但他同时也表示，他更希望通过谈判结束冲突。

在选举前，普京曾表示，选举结果将显示俄罗斯人团结在军队及其目标之下——尽管独立民调机构列瓦达中心在8月份的一项民调中发现，59%的俄罗斯人赞成进行和平谈判。

进一步的迹象表明，普京并不打算放慢“特殊军事行动”的步伐。路透社查阅的预算文件显示，俄罗斯计划在 2027 年花费 17.1 万亿卢布（2051.12 亿美元）用于国防，比最初预算增加约 27%，是自全面入侵乌克兰以来的最高水平。