Kremlin said people should heed President Vladimir Putin's warning that the West would enter into direct conflict with Russia if it allowed Ukraine to strike Russian territory with long-range Western missiles, reports "Reuters", quoted by News.bg.
His remarks came in response to a question about whether the decision to allow Kiev to proceed with such strikes could prompt Moscow to change its position on nuclear tests.
Russia will not test nuclear weapons as long as the United States refrains from such tests, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who is responsible for Russia's arms control policy, assured yesterday. His words came amid speculation that the Kremlin may abandon its post-Soviet moratorium on nuclear tests.
"Please listen again and read the statements the president made on this matter – I mean on the subject of a possible authorization to use Western weapons deep inside Russian territory,'' insisted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked if the position expressed by Ryabkov could change.
"The statement the president made in St. Petersburg. The position of the Russian Federation is very clearly stated there."
In his speech in St. Petersburg on September 12, Putin announced: "If the decision on missiles is taken, it will mean direct participation of NATO countries, the US and European countries in the war in Ukraine, and this, of course, significantly changes the very essence, the very nature of the conflict."
In his words, Russia will be forced to take "appropriate decisions" based on new threats.
Putin did not specify what those measures might be, but in the past he has mentioned the possibility of the West's enemies being armed with Russian weapons to strike Western targets. In June, he hinted at deploying conventional missiles at a range sufficient to strike the United States and its European allies.
Russia, the world's largest nuclear power, is currently revising its nuclear doctrine – the circumstances under which Moscow would use nuclear weapons.
In St. Petersburg in June, Putin said the West was wrong to think Russia would never use nuclear weapons and stressed that the Kremlin's nuclear doctrine should not be taken lightly.
"For some reason, the West believes that Russia will never use them,", he noted in response to a question about the risk of nuclear escalation over Ukraine.