Putin warns West that Russia is ready to use every weapon to protect Kaliningrad

Image source, Getty ImagesByPaul Kirby, Europe digital editor, and Alys Davies Updated 3 hours agoVladimir Putin has said Russia will use all weapons at his disposal if it considers its Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad to have come under direct attack.

• Russia targets busy bridge in central KyivPublished9 hours ago.

Rosenberg: Putin não mostra sinais de parar a guerra enquanto a Rússia intensifica a ofensiva na Ucrânia. Publicado há 1 dia.

The Russian president insisted that Moscow was "not threatening anyone" and merely responding to statements by Western leaders that it was preparing for war in 2029 or 2030.

Throughout this week, Russia has accused Nato of preparing to blockade its territory, which borders Lithuania and Poland, warning that it would even be prepared to use nuclear weapons if the West tried to cut off Kaliningrad from the rest of Russia.

O NATO tem buscado acalmar a situação, enfatizando que é uma aliança defensiva e instando Moscou a parar suas 'nuclear threats.

Western allies have faced a surge in so-called hybrid warfare incidents blamed on Russia, particularly in Poland and the Baltics in recent months.

Last week alone, Poland said a Russian helicopter had strayed into its territory adjacent to Kaliningrad and Lithuania said its population felt "constantly threatened" by Russia, in part because of drones entering the nation's airspace.

O chanceler alemão Friedrich Merz disse na quinta‑feira que seu país estava se preparando para mais ataques híbridos, “incluindo graves”, depois que um drone armado com explosivos foi encontrado em agosto na pista do aeroporto de Leipzig perto de aviões de carga ucranianos.

In a wide-ranging speech at the Valdai foreign policy forum, Putin told his audience that he believed that international conflicts were highly likely to continue, but would get better as "Western hegemony" weakened.

Although the Russian leader himself began the full-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022, he again blamed the West for provoking the invasion, arguing that Moscow had simply been forced to defend itself and take up arms.

Ele também insistiu que os ataques da Rússia a alvos econômicos ucranianos eram uma resposta direta aos ataques da Ucrânia às refinarias de petróleo da Rússia e aos seus navios no Mar Negro.

Now from every direction we're receiving calls 'let's stop'. But they started it," he said.

Putin admitted Kyiv had "got some results" from its refinery attacks and Russia had lost about 1% of its GDP. Ukraine maintains it began attacking Russian oil infrastructure because it helped the Kremlin finance the war.

A Rússia tem alvo da infraestrutura energética ucraniana, intensificando os ataques a cada inverno desde que a guerra na Ucrânia começou em 2022. Outras infraestruturas civis também são atingidas regularmente, com uma ponte chave em Kiev sendo atacada por drones na quinta-feira.

Putin also accused the West of instigating other conflicts.

If it comes to a direct attack on the Russian Federation, in this case we are talking about Kaliningrad but possibly some other territories, of course the issue of use by the Russian Federation of all arms at the disposal of our country will inevitably and immediately be on the agenda," he said.

He accused Nato of holding naval manoeuvres in the Baltic Sea that he argued represented serious threats to Kaliningrad. If the territory came under Western blockade, he said Russia would be prepared to use all means and forces, including nuclear.

Não estamos ameaçando ninguém. Não pretendemos atacar ninguém em 2029, em 2030, em 2050. Mas se encontrarmos uma agressão, teremos que responder. Os cidadãos dos países europeus devem estar plenamente cientes disso.

He added that while he was aware of the nuclear capabilities of countries such as the UK and France, the weapons at its disposal were unparalleled.

Western officials have long feared that, rather than invading Kaliningrad, Russia would use the relatively small distance between the exclave and ally Belarus - known as the Suwalki Gap - were it to attempt to seize Lithuanian territory by force.

O primeiro‑ministro da Lituânia disse à BBC na semana passada que seu país havia elaborado planos de evacuação caso a Rússia invadisse e milhares de tropas da OTAN estão estacionadas lá.

Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte made clear on Wednesday that none of the alliance's "exercises or activities" posed any threat to Moscow and that the Kremlin's messaging was "absolutely not called for and not helpful.

Putin spent some time talking about leading countries in the world having armaments at their disposal that could "swipe away all life or at least push the Earth to catastrophic consequences", and said that unfortunately no-one could be sure they would never be used.

Ele fez a analogia de uma arma posicionada no palco de um teatro - se ela estivesse pendurada lá no início do espetáculo, certamente seria disparada no final.

He appeared to call for the rules of warfare to be rewritten and warned of the increasing risk of artificial intelligence.

A automação e digitalização da guerra leva à sua gamificação. Isso leva à degradação e ao retrocesso da humanidade para a barbarie," ele disse.

Russia launches largest attack on Ukraine energy infrastructure since spring.