Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that any direct attack on Russia or attempt to annex its exclave in the Kaliningrad region would inevitably raise the issue of using "all weapons and means at Moscow's disposal."
He stressed at the same time in a meeting of the Vladai Discussion Club in Moscow that Russia does not intend to attack anyone.
"If it comes to a direct attack on Russia, the issue of using all available weapons will inevitably arise," 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," he noted.
Putin said the letter was issued in response to statements about a possible blockade of Kaliningrad, and that Russia would have to respond if the region faced a direct attack.
Russia has no plans to attack anyone, "neither in 2029, nor in 2030, nor in 2050," but if it "faces an aggression," it will respond, he said.
He also warned that the European Union could take his remarks out of context and use them to suggest that Russia was threatening Europe with nuclear weapons.
The Russian president called for caution on destructive weapons possessed by major world powers, warning that increasingly uncompromising confrontation could lead to the most dangerous stage of escalation.
"We cannot be sure that they (destructive weapons) will not be used," he said. "We must realize that the moment when nothing can be changed anymore could arrive very quickly and unexpectedly for everyone."
He noted the saying that "if a gun hangs on the wall at the beginning of a play, it must fire by the end," stressing the need to prevent that outcome.
"We must keep this in mind and avoid it," he said.
