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Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that a direct attack on Russia, including its Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, would "inevitably and unavoidably" put the use of all weapons in Russia's arsenal on the agenda, while insisting Moscow has no intention of attacking anyone.
"If it comes to direct attack against the Russian Federation, in this case on Kaliningrad and possibly some other territories, of course the issue of using all weapons in our country's arsenal will inevitably and unavoidably emerge on the agenda. This is unavoidable," Putin said at the annual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow.
Tensions over Kaliningrad, which borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania, have risen after a series of nearby NATO exercises.
Moscow warned in late September that it would retaliate if NATO attempted to blockade the exclave by air or sea.
Putin said he supported the Russian Foreign Ministry's recent statement on Kaliningrad and the letters it sent to several countries.
"We are not frightening anyone. The Russian Foreign Ministry's statement and the letters it sent to some countries are not intimidation, but a response to an attempt to intimidate us," he said.
"In the letter from the Russian Foreign Ministry on the protection of the Kaliningrad region, there is no mention of nuclear weapons; it speaks about Russia's use of all means," Putin said, adding that the letter responded to statements about a possible blockade of the exclave.
"And it is not about the surname of the supreme commander-in-chief or the president of Russia," he said.
When moderator Fyodor Lukyanov noted that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte had reacted "very calmly" to the ministry's warning, Putin replied: "Right, if one does not consider the threats against us serious."
"The drills in the Baltic Sea, following one another. Then the attempts to arrest our ships and vessels. All this is an escalation. And then we began to hear statements regarding the Kaliningrad region," Putin said.
NATO has described its drills as defensive exercises to strengthen deterrence and has denounced Russia's "threat of force, including any irresponsible nuclear rhetoric."
Putin said Russia would face an opponent twice its population size with major economic and military potential, and would therefore have to rely on its "competitive advantages."
"Yes, of course, France and Great Britain are nuclear powers, we understand this perfectly well, we are aware of it. But no one has such means of destruction as Russia has today. And these are our competitive advantages," he said.
"We have no intention of attacking anyone, neither in 2029, nor in 2030, nor in 2050," Putin said, adding, "However, if we face aggression, we will be compelled to respond. Citizens of European countries need to clearly understand this."
He also warned that the world's most destructive weapons could be used as confrontation escalates.
"We cannot be sure that they will not be used. We must realize that the moment when nothing can be changed anymore could arrive very quickly and unexpectedly for everyone," he said.
Citing the saying that a gun hanging on the wall at the start of a play must fire by the end, Putin said: "We must keep this in mind and avoid it."
He also said European politicians could take his remarks out of context to claim Russia was threatening Europe with nuclear weapons.
Putin acknowledged that Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries had hurt the economy. "They openly declared their goal was to damage our economy. Did they succeed? Partially, by our estimates, we lost about one percent of our GDP," he said, adding that Russia responded with "a mirror-image response."
He said Ukraine had "knocked out over 100 of our ships" in the Black Sea and accused Kyiv of attacking Russian tankers and civilian cargo vessels since early June.
Putin also criticized Western sanctions on Russian fuel.
"While sanctions continue, how will our diesel reach the world market? It won't. In return, we are expected to stop attacks on their economically sensitive facilities. You will agree this seems illogical," he said.
Putin said Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement during their 2022 talks in Istanbul.
"We really reached an agreement in Istanbul. There is the signature of the head of the Ukrainian negotiating delegation there. He initialed these understandings, meaning Ukraine generally accepted them," he said.
He said Ukraine later abandoned the deal at the suggestion of its "Western partners," and claimed the Ukrainian side had since acknowledged the war "would have ended long ago" had the Istanbul agreements been implemented.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Putin's Kaliningrad warning comes as European governments accuse Moscow of a campaign of hybrid attacks against Ukraine's backers.
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