Vladimir Putin issued yet another ominous warning to the West over the weekend, suggesting the US could be pulled into another Cold War.
The Russian president claimed that if the White House sends long-range missiles to Germany, then Moscow would do the same – and those weapons could reach the West.
Putin’s words come after the US said on July 10 it would start sending such weapons to Germany from 2026 as part of a longer-term militarisation.
The president said: “The flight time to targets on our territory of such missiles, which in the future may be equipped with nuclear warheads, will be about 10 minutes.”
As Reuters reported, the president said: “We will take mirror measures to deploy, taking into account the actions of the United States, its satellites in Europe and in other regions of the world.”
Putin was speaking to sailors from Russia, China, Algeria and India who were gathered to mark Russian navy day in St Petersburg.
Moscow claimed the US’s plans are comparable to plans from Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) to deploy Pershing II launchers – meant to deliver a nuclear warhead – in Western Europe in 1979.
At the time, the Soviet Union thought this was a plan to take out their leadership.
So Putin thinks the US’s intention of sending long-range missiles to Germany is similar.
“This situation is reminiscent of the events of the Cold War related to the deployment of American medium–range Pershing missiles in Europe,” Putin added.
The Cold War describes the lengthy rivalry between the Soviet Union and the US after World War 2 which was kind of nuclear stalemate.
While it technically ended when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Putin has sought to revive the rivalry between the West and Russia in recent years.
He claimed that he invaded Ukraine because the West and Nato was extending its influence to far eastwards – although most in the West believe it is actually a Russian land grab.
Putin has repeatedly suggested he could use nuclear weapons ever since invading Ukraine.
He also alleged in September 2022 that Russia’s weapons were more advanced than the West’s and that he was “not bluffing” when it came to deploying them.