Putin Warns West Russia Will Use All Weapons to Defend Kaliningrad

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned Western countries that Moscow would use every weapon at its disposal if Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad came under direct attack, escalating his rhetoric over what he described as growing threats from NATO.

Speaking at the Valdai foreign policy forum on Friday, Putin said Russia was “not threatening anyone” and was responding to statements by Western leaders that Moscow could be preparing for war in 2029 or 2030.

Throughout the week, Russia has accused NATO of preparing to blockade Kaliningrad, which borders Lithuania and Poland. Moscow has warned that it would be prepared to use nuclear weapons if the West attempted to cut the territory off from the rest of Russia.

NATO has sought to ease tensions, describing itself as a defensive alliance and calling on Moscow to stop what it characterized as “nuclear threats.”

The warnings come amid what Western allies have described as a surge in hybrid warfare incidents attributed to Russia, particularly in Poland and the Baltic states.

Last week, Poland said a Russian helicopter had entered its territory near Kaliningrad, while Lithuania said its population felt “constantly threatened” by Russia, citing, in part, drones entering Lithuanian airspace.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday that Germany was preparing for further hybrid attacks, “including serious ones,” after a drone carrying explosives was discovered in August on the tarmac at Leipzig airport, near Ukrainian cargo planes.

In his wide-ranging speech, Putin said international conflicts were highly likely to continue but would improve as what he called “Western hegemony” weakened.

Although Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Putin again blamed the West for provoking the war, arguing that Moscow had been forced to defend itself and take up arms.

He also said Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian economic targets were a direct response to Ukrainian strikes against Russian oil refineries and ships in the Black Sea.

“Now from every direction we're receiving calls ‘let's stop’. But they started it,” Putin said.

The Russian president acknowledged that Ukraine had “got some results” from its attacks on Russian refineries and said Russia had lost about one percent of its GDP. Ukraine has maintained that it began targeting Russian oil infrastructure because it helped finance the Kremlin’s war.

Russia has targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure, increasing attacks during successive winters since the war began in 2022. Other civilian infrastructure has also been hit, including a key bridge in Kyiv that was attacked by drones on Thursday.

Putin said a direct attack on Russia, including Kaliningrad and potentially other territories, would place the use of all weapons available to Moscow “inevitably and immediately” on the agenda.

“If it comes to a direct attack on the Russian Federation, in this case we are talking about Kaliningrad but possibly some other territories, of course the issue of use by the Russian Federation of all arms at the disposal of our country will inevitably and immediately be on the agenda,” Putin said.

He accused NATO of conducting naval maneuvers in the Baltic Sea that he said posed serious threats to Kaliningrad.

Putin said Russia would be prepared to use all means and forces, if the territory came under a Western blockade.

“We are not threatening anyone. We do not intend to attack anyone in 2029, in 2030, in 2050. But if we come across an aggression we will have to respond. Citizens of European countries should be fully aware of that,” he said.

Putin also said he was aware of the nuclear capabilities of countries including the UK and France, but claimed that Russia’s weapons were unparalleled.

Western officials have long expressed concern that Russia could seek to use the relatively short stretch of territory between Kaliningrad and Russia’s ally Belarus, known as the Suwalki Gap, if it attempted to seize Lithuanian territory by force.

Putin’s latest warning places Kaliningrad at the center of a broader dispute over military activity in the Baltic Sea, NATO’s intentions and the possibility of direct confrontation between Russia and Western countries.