In brief
During a speech at the Valdai Forum, Vladimir Putin said Russia would use all its weapons to defend the Kaliningrad enclave if it came under direct attack. He dismissed the West’s claims that he was preparing for war past 2029, insisting his warnings were defensive. Putin cited recent hybrid attacks on Poland and Lithuania and warned NATO’s naval drills in the Baltic Sea as serious threats. He called for a rewrite of warfare rules, highlighting the risks of automated AI‑driven weapons, and repeated that Russia’s nuclear capability is unmatched.
Vladimir Putin has said Russia will use all weapons at its disposal if it considers Kaliningrad under direct attack.
During a speech at the Valdai foreign‑policy forum, the president denied threatening anyone, claiming the West's claims of a looming 2029‑2030 war were false. He accused NATO of preparing to blockade the Russian exclave bordering Lithuania and Poland, and warned that nuclear weapons would be used if the West cut Kaliningrad off from the rest of Russia.
NATO has urged Moscow to drop its “nuclear threats” and stressed the alliance’s defensive posture. Western allies have reported a rise in hybrid-warfare incidents, with Poland noting a Russian helicopter entered its airspace and Lithuania saying its population felt constantly threatened by drones.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned that Germany was preparing for further hybrid attacks after an explosive‑armed drone was found on a Leipzig airport runway. Putin said international conflicts will continue but would improve as “Western hegemony” weakens.
He accused the West of provocations, asserting Russia’s strikes on Ukrainian economic targets were retaliatory to attacks on Russian oil refineries and shipping. He claimed that Ukraine’s refinery attacks yielded some results while Russia’s GDP fell by about 1%.
The president argued that leader nations possess weapons capable of wiping out life, and that the automation and digitalisation of warfare “leads to the gamification” of war, pushing humanity towards barbarity. He urged a rewrite of warfare rules to address this risk.
