Vladimir Putin threatened to target his missiles in the United States if Washington deployed its rockets in Europe

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the United States on Wednesday that if it deploys short-range and long-range missiles in Europe, Moscow would react "immediately" by targeting its weapons not only to these European countries, but also to "decision-making centers". ".

Putin made this statement in reference to Washington's recent unilateral exit of the missile and medium-range missileINF) during his annual speech on the state of the nation in front of both Houses of Parliament.

"Russia will not be the first to deploy intermediate-range missiles in Europe, but if the United States installs these missiles near Russia, Moscow will be forced to react in the same way. Russia will not only target launch points, but also the sites where decisions are made on these missileshe warned.

Putin argued that this type of response will include both "symmetrical and asymmetrical" measures, because "some of the missiles" that Washington could deploy on the European continent. could reach Moscow in just 10 minutes. "This is a very big threat for us, which would greatly aggravate the situation in the field of international security," he said.

In this sense, the president has stepped up his challenge against the White House. "American elites may be wrong to believe that they are exceptional. But do you know how to count? They should register new Russian weapons and make decisions based on these calculations.", he added in a 90-minute speech.

The Russian leader also announced and celebrated the new military developments, among which he stressed a new hypersonic cruise missile Tsirkonwho said that he can reach a Mach 9 speed (11,110 kilometers at the hour) and a range greater than 1,000 kilometers.

As mentioned earlier, these anti-ship rockets, still in the test phase, will be installed on Russian Navy ships and submarines.

"Russia has made progress in advanced technologies in the defense sector. The creation of hypersonic missiles is at the height of the first lansamiento of a satellite, in terms of magnitude"Praise Putin.

In any case, he maintained his speech guaranteeing the "peaceful" role of the Kremlin, criticizing the White House. "Russia is not a threat to other nations, the military movements are defensive in nature and are a response to what the United States and its allies do. Washington's policies are destructive and affect their own interests in the long run"

Despite highlighting Russian military progress, he badured that "the international scene does not call for escalation"war and considered that the US decision to withdraw from the INF treaty is" one of the most significant events of today ".

"Our American partners should have said things honestly instead of using imaginary accusations against Russia to motivate their unilateral withdrawal from the agreement," he added.

Prior to Putin's message, ultra-nationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky had badyzed the importance of his speech for local politics. "The speech marks the course of the state during the following year, and Most of the time, this reflects the most important challenges. For Russia, it is the threat of the West. You want to avoid a war, get ready for that"

After last year's speech, Putin got his highest approval rate since coming to power in 1999. But a year later, the president saw his popularity plummet in a context of problems. economic.

(With EFE information)