“We are convinced that we have the right to use our weapons against military facilities in countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities,” Putin said, according to CNN. He responded to the deployment of American ATACMS ballistic missiles and British-French Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles against military installations on the territory of Russia.
“The use of such weapons is impossible without the direct involvement of the military specialists of the countries that produce these weapons,” argues Putin.
“From this moment, as we have repeatedly emphasized, the regional conflict provoked by the West acquired a global character,” Putin repeated on Russian television in his address to the nation, the basic point of Russian propaganda that Moscow is only defending itself by invading Ukraine. “In case of escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond just as decisively and matter-of-factly,” said the Kremlin leader.
An open threat of war
Threatening to attack facilities in third countries that are not involved in the conflict is an open threat of war. At the same time, Russia does what it accuses the West of doing. Not only did it use Belarus to attack Ukraine, which thus became a belligerent country according to international law, but it deploys North Korean soldiers to fight, so the DPRK also became a belligerent country. In addition, a number of sanctions are imposed on the DPRK, which prohibit it from exporting weapons, just as other countries are prohibited from importing these weapons. Russia itself supported these sanctions in the past.
Thus, Russia itself gives the conflict a global character, not to mention the fact that an attack on a neighboring country with the aim of acquiring its territory is contrary to the UN Charter.
Putin did not substantiate the claim that ATACMS missiles and Storm Shadow missiles cannot be used by Ukrainians without the help of British, French or American specialists, even though there were earlier speculations that the British are helping with the programming of Storm Shadow missiles.
However, Ukrainian missile specialists can be trained to use them, and they had enough time to do so. They are definitely more qualified than the Yemeni Houthis, who launch ballistic missiles and cruise missiles at Saudi Arabia or on ships in the Red Sea and claim that they not only launch them, but also manufacture them to protect Iran. At the same time, Putin never criticized his Tehran ally.
