US, allies may face Russian arms direct use by 3rd parties: Medvedev
3 Min Read
The top Russian official's threat comes after several Western countries, including the US, gave Ukraine the green light to strike targets inside Russia.
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Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia's Security Council, speaks at a lecture at the 2024 World Youth Festival in Sochi, Russia, Monday, March 4, 2024. (AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday lambasted the West's delivery of long-range weapons to Ukraine, hinting that Moscow could arm other countries with similar weapons to attack Western targets.
The announcement 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.
Commenting on Putin's announcement, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said this is a rather "significant change" in Moscow's foreign policy.
Referring to the United States and its allies, Medvedev explained that "the Yankees and their drooling dogs put it that way: we are entitled to provide any kind of weapons" to Ukraine "and all the other countries cannot help Russia."
"Now, may the United States and its allies experience firsthand the direct use of Russian weapons by the third parties," he posted on his account on X.
Yesterday the President of Russia for the first time ever acknowledged the possibility of sending our weapons to the regions that fight against the states who provide arms to the f. Ukraine. (More precisely, use these arms against our country.) In other words, to the forces that…
— Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) June 6, 2024
The Russian official noted that these parties "have been intentionally left unnamed, but it can be all those who consider the Yankeeland & Co their enemy, regardless of their political outlook and international recognition."
Medvedev indicated that if these sides' enemy is the US, "to us they are friends."
"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 on Wednesday.
"That is, the response can be asymmetric. We will think about it," he told reporters.
The Russian leader warned that Western arms deliveries to Ukraine were "a very negative step," saying that donors were "controlling" the weapons.
President Joe Biden told ABC News that US-supplied weapons are "authorized to be used in proximity to the border when they're being used on the other side of the border to attack specific targets in Ukraine."
"We're not authorizing strikes 200 miles into Russia and we're not authorizing strikes on Moscow, on the Kremlin," he claimed.
Germany also said it had permitted Ukraine to fire German-delivered weapons at targets in Russia.
Read more: Ukraine strikes inside Russia using Western weapons, official says
