Putin threatens to arm adversaries with long-range weapons in response to NATO support for Ukraine

Vladimir Putin sat down with international journalists at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum on Wednesday—a rare public appearance before Western media since Russia invaded Ukraine more than two years ago—and delivered a stark warning about the consequences of NATO's deepening military involvement in the conflict. The Russian president said Moscow was prepared to supply long-range weapons to adversaries of the West in retaliation for the United States and Germany authorizing Ukraine to strike targets inside Russian territory with Western-supplied arms.

The immediate trigger for Putin's threat was concrete and recent. The U.S. had just approved Ukraine to use American weapons to attack limited targets on Russian soil, specifically to defend Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city. Germany had made a similar authorization. Putin framed this decision not as support for a neighboring country's self-defense, but as direct Western participation in the war against Russia. "That would mark their direct involvement in the war against the Russian Federation, and we reserve the right to act the same way," he said. He suggested that if the West believed it could arm Ukraine to strike Russian territory, Russia should have equal latitude to arm others—unnamed regions and hostile actors—to target Western infrastructure and sensitive facilities. "We will think about it," he added, leaving the threat deliberately vague.

Putin's logic rested on a disputed claim about how Western weapons systems operate. He asserted that using long-range missiles supplied by the U.S. and Germany requires military personnel from those countries to control the weapons and select targets, effectively making those nations combatants. The U.S. military rejected this characterization, stating it does not control the missiles it provides to Ukraine or determine their targets. The distinction matters because it separates the legal and political question of whether NATO countries are directly at war with Russia—a line Putin was arguing had already been crossed.

Beyond the immediate threat of arming adversaries, Putin reaffirmed Russia's willingness to deploy nuclear weapons. He cited Moscow's security doctrine, which permits nuclear use if Russia's sovereignty or territorial integrity faces threat. "For some reason, they believe in the West that Russia will never use it," he said, suggesting Western confidence in Russian restraint was misplaced. He noted that even Russia's battlefield nuclear weapons exceed the destructive power of the bombs the United States dropped on Japan in World War II, a comparison that underscored both the scale of Russia's arsenal and the stakes of continued escalation.

On other matters, Putin dismissed the idea that the American presidential election would alter Russia's trajectory. Whether Joe Biden or Donald Trump won in November, he said, nothing fundamental would change in U.S.-Russia relations. He also commented on Trump's recent felony conviction in his hush money trial, characterizing it as weaponized justice—the use of courts as instruments of internal political struggle. When asked about Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, detained in Russia on espionage charges for over a year, Putin suggested his release would require quiet, professional negotiation and reciprocal prisoner exchanges rather than public pressure.

On the question of military losses, Putin offered unverified claims. He said Ukraine's casualties were five times higher than Russia's but provided no supporting data. He also stated that Russia holds more than 6,400 Ukrainian soldiers while Ukraine holds over 1,300 Russian troops. Western estimates of Russian losses have generally been far higher than Putin's implicit figures, and independent verification of casualty claims from either side remains difficult. Putin also claimed the West had opportunities to end the fighting but chose not to, citing a letter he said he once wrote to Biden proposing that hostilities could cease within two or three months if weapons supplies stopped.

The setting itself carried symbolic weight. Putin held the press conference in Gazprom's new global headquarters, an 81-story needle-shaped tower overlooking the Gulf of Finland, a showcase of Russian development and ambition. The St. Petersburg forum has long served as Putin's platform for demonstrating Russia's resilience and attracting investment, though Western participation has collapsed since the invasion. Last year, journalists from countries Russia considers hostile—the U.S., U.K., and EU nations—were not invited at all. This year's appearance before Western media marked a shift, though the substance of Putin's message was one of escalation and resolve rather than any opening toward de-escalation.