SAINT PETERSBURG: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday criticized the West’s delivery of long-range weapons to Ukraine, arguing Moscow could arm other countries with similar weapons to attack Western targets.
The comment — which Putin made at a rare press conference with foreign news outlets — came after several Western countries including the United States gave Ukraine the green light to strike targets inside Russia, a move Moscow has called a grave miscalculation.
“If someone thinks it is possible to supply such weapons to a warzone to attack our territory and create problems for us, why don’t we have the right to supply weapons of the same class to regions of the world where there will be strikes on sensitive facilities of those (Western) countries,” Putin said.
“That is, the response can be asymmetric. We will think about it,” he told reporters.
But the 71-year-old Kremlin chief dismissed as “bollocks” suggestions Russia planned to attack NATO members.
“There is no need to look for some imperial ambitions of ours. There are none,” he said.
Putin warned that Western arms deliveries to Ukraine were “a very negative step,” saying that donors were “controlling” the weapons.
The Russian leader singled out Germany for particular criticism, saying that when the first German-supplied tanks “appeared on Ukrainian soil, it provoked a moral and ethical shock in Russia” because of the legacy of World War II.
Referring to German authorities, he said: “When they say that there will be more missiles which will hit targets on Russian territory, this definitively destroys Russian-German relations.”
Sitting opposite representatives from news outlets including AFP, Putin repeated that his country “did not start the war against Ukraine,” instead blaming a pro-Western revolution in 2014.
“Everyone thinks that Russia started the war in Ukraine. I would like to emphasize that nobody in the West, in Europe, wants to remember how this tragedy started,” Putin said.
He declined to give the number of Russia’s battlefield losses in the more than two-year conflict, saying only that Ukraine’s were five times higher.
“I can tell you that as a rule, no one talks about it,” Putin rebuffed, when asked why Russia had not yet disclosed a figure.
“If we talk about irrecoverable losses, the ratio is one to five,” he said.
The issue of military casualties is extremely sensitive in Russia, where all criticism of the conflict is banned and “spreading false information” about the army carries a maximum 15 year jail sentence.
When asked about the killing of AFP video journalist Arman Soldin in Ukraine last year, likely as a result of Russian rocket fire, Putin indicated Moscow was ready to help investigate.
“We will do everything in our power,” he said.
“We are ready to do this work. I do not know how it could be done in practice since this person died in a warzone.”
Putin was also probed about what a victory for former US President Donald Trump or incumbent Joe Biden would mean for US-Russia relations — an issue the Russian leader shrugged off.
“By and large there’s no difference,” he said.
However he called Trump’s recent criminal charges for business fraud politically motivated, arguing his conviction “burned” the idea that Washington was a leading democracy.
“It is obvious all over the world that the prosecution of Trump... is simply the utilization of the judicial system during an internal political struggle,” Putin said.
“Their supposed leadership in the sphere of democracy is being burned to the ground,” the Russian leader added.
Trump became the first former US head of state ever convicted of a crime last week after a New York jury found him guilty of 34 felony charges in a hush money case.
Trump, who faces an election in November that could see him return to the White House, has praised Putin as a “smart guy.”
Putin also said Russia and the United States were in “constant contact” over a possible prisoner exchange that would free jailed US journalist Evan Gershkovich who was arrested on espionage charges last year.
“The relevant services in the US and Russia are in constant contact with one another and of course they will decide only on the basis of reciprocity,” Putin said.
Putin threatens to arm countries that could hit Western targets
Putin threatens to arm countries that could hit Western targets
- Putin warned that Western arms deliveries to Ukraine were “a very negative step,” saying that donors were “controlling” the weapons
Trump says Australia will grant asylum to Iran women footballers
- Presenter on Iranian state TV had branded the players “wartime traitors” after they stood motionless during the anthem
MIAMI: US President Donald Trump said Monday that Australia had agreed to grant asylum to some of Iran’s visiting women’s football team, amid fears they could face retaliation back home for not singing the national anthem before a match.
The gesture ahead of the team’s Asian Cup match against South Korea last week was seen by many as an act of defiance against the Islamic republic just two days after the United States and Israel attacked it.
“I just spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, of Australia, concerning the Iranian National Women’s Soccer Team. He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of,” Trump said Monday on his Truth Social network, less than two hours after an initial post urging Australia to take them in.
Trump added that “some, however, feel they must go back because they are worried about the safety of their families, including threats to those family members if they don’t return.”
There was no immediate comment from the Australian government, which has so far declined to say whether it could offer the players asylum.
Asked about their case on Sunday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia “stands in solidarity” with the people of Iran.
The son of Iran’s late shah, US-based Reza Pahlavi, warned on Monday that the refusal to sing the anthem could have “dire consequences,” and urged Australia to offer the team protection.
Trump then weighed in, pressing Albanese to “give ASYLUM” to the team and adding: “The US will take them if you won’t.”
“Australia is making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iran National Woman’s Soccer team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed,” the US leader said on Truth Social.
Pahlavi, who has not returned to Iran since before the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the monarchy, has billed himself as the man to lead a democratic transition to a secular Iran as the theocratic regime fights to survive.
Politicians, human rights activists and even “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling have also called for the team to be offered official protection.
“Please, protect these young women,” Rowling said in a post on social media.
‘Save our girls’
A presenter on Iranian state TV had branded the players “wartime traitors” after they stood motionless during the anthem before their match against South Korea.
In subsequent games, the players saluted and sang.
Crowds gathered outside the Gold Coast stadium where the side played their last match over the weekend, banging drums and shouting “regime change for Iran.”
They then surrounded the Iranian team bus, chanting “let them go” and “save our girls.”
On Monday, an AFP journalist saw members of the team speaking on phones from their balcony of their hotel.
Asked about the possibility of granted asylum, a spokesperson for Australia’s Home Affairs department told AFP earlier it “cannot comment on the circumstances of individuals.”
Amnesty International campaigner Zaki Haidari said they faced persecution, or worse, if they were sent home.
“Some of these team members probably have had their families already threatened,” Haidari told AFP.
“Them going back... who knows what sort of punishment they will receive?“
Despite being heavily monitored, the side would have a “small window of opportunity” to seek asylum at the airport, he said.
Iran’s embassy in Australia did not respond to a request for comment.
