Putin warns West Russia ready to use all weapons if Kaliningrad attacked

Speaking at the Valdai foreign policy forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia would use every weapon available to it if it considered itself under direct attack in its Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad. He insisted Russia was not threatening anyone and was merely responding to Western claims that Moscow was preparing for war by 2029 or 2030.

Throughout the past week Russia repeatedly accused NATO of preparing to blockade Kaliningrad, which borders Lithuania and Poland, warning it would even consider using nuclear weapons if the West tried to cut the territory off from the rest of Russia. NATO has pushed back, describing itself as a purely defensive alliance and calling on Moscow to halt its nuclear threats.

Rising tensions

Western allies, particularly Poland and the Baltic states, have reported a growing number of so-called hybrid warfare incidents attributed to Russia. Last week Poland said a Russian helicopter had strayed into its territory near Kaliningrad, while Lithuania said its population felt "constantly threatened," partly due to drones entering its airspace. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday his country was bracing for further hybrid attacks, including serious ones, after an explosive-laden drone was found in August on the tarmac at Leipzig airport near Ukrainian cargo planes.

Putin argued international conflicts were likely to continue but would ease as "Western hegemony" weakened. Despite launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he again blamed the West for provoking the war, claiming Russia had been forced to defend itself.

He also said Russia's strikes on Ukrainian economic targets were a direct response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries and Black Sea shipping, acknowledging Kyiv had achieved some results and that Russia had lost about 1% of its GDP as a result.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Wednesday that none of the alliance's exercises or activities posed any threat to Moscow, calling the Kremlin's messaging unhelpful. Putin also warned about the growing risks of artificial intelligence in warfare, expressing concern that the automation of combat was leading to its "gamification" and a potential slide of humanity back toward barbarity.