Rob Clark
Curia’s Head of Foreign PolicyRussian president and pariah of the liberal-based order Vladimir Putin has accused the UK of directly interfering in his war against Ukraine – and vowed revenge. Addressing an international press corps for the first time since his full scale reinvasion of Ukraine in March 2022, Putin told journalists at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum that British armed forces are targeting missiles hitting Russian targets.
“Delivering arms to a warzone is always bad. Even more so if those who are delivering are not just delivering weapons but also controlling them. This is a very serious and very dangerous step,” Putin said in the rare interview with Western media.
Putin also took the opportunity infront of western media outlets to lash out against Britain, Germany, France, and the US, for supplying Ukraine with weapons that can strike military targets inside Russia, claiming this policy directly threatened Russian sovereignty.
Putin and Kremlin response
Highlighting that these recent actions directly threaten Russian security, Putin threatened to supply advanced Russian weaponry to Britain’s enemies, as well as to those of other Western countries providing long-range weapons to Ukraine.
“If they consider it possible to deliver such weapons to the combat zone to launch strikes on our territory and create problems for us, why don’t we have the right to supply weapons of the same type to some regions of the world where they can be used to launch strikes on sensitive facilities of the countries that do it to Russia?
In addition Putin claimed that the Kremlin is considering placing Russian missiles within range of Britain and other Western allies, saying that said he could respond “in kind” by deploying his weapons to allies closer to Europe and the US, in a threat that echoes of early Cold War mentality with the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Western military aid to Ukraine
Britain, Germany, France, and the US all recently changed their rules to allow long-range missiles to be used by Ukraine to strike legitimate military targets inside Russia, such as airbases used to launch strikes into Ukraine, and to prevent a renewed invasion from the north towards Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, close to the Russian border.
Earlier on Wednesday, a Western official and US Senator stated that Ukraine has already used US weapons to bomb military targets across the Russian border that threaten Kharkiv, after gaining long-awaited presidential approval from Joe Biden. The US president’s new guidance allows US arms to be used for the limited purpose of defending Kharkiv, whilst the UK and France have had a more pragmatic view in reducing constraints placed upon Kyiv.
Putin has been reluctant to single out and threaten these policies before now, assessing that his fiery brand of escalation and rhetoric does not fool London or Paris. However, in his ever-increasing attempts to splinter the alliance and cause division in policy between NATO members, Putin has singled out Germany, warning an ever-mindful and hesitant leadership in Berlin under Olaf Scholz that the use of German weapons would mark a “dangerous step” and ruin relations between Berlin and Moscow.
In an attempt to appeal to the German domestic audience Putin remarked that; “When German tanks first appeared on Ukrainian soil, it already produced such a moral ethical shock in Russia, because relations towards [Germany] in Russian society had always been very good. Now, when they say that some more missiles will appear that will strike targets on Russian territory, this, of course, is ultimately destroying Russo-German relations.”
Unified western strength
As Putin continues to attempt to sov divisions across an often already divided alliance regarding the finer points of support Ukraine – particularly between the German Chancellor and his increasingly hawkish defence minister, Boris Pistorius – the military powers most heavily involved in continuing to support Ukraine with long range missiles and artillery stocks must remain resolute in the face of increased provocative rhetoric.
As British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak showed real international leadership in January 2023 signing off sending British Challenger tanks to Kyiv, Putin was left seething and lamenting violent reprisals for such “dangerous escalation”. Needless to say there were none. The strength of the west is largely in part to its unity and alliances – a core strategic asset that Russia does not enjoy. This must be now reinforced, as Putin once more seeks to press division and confusion once more.
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