Western media were alarmed by Putin's statement
Panic, anxiety and confusion - this is the first reaction of the Western media in connection with the warning made to the West by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who on Thursday addressed the personnel of the Armed Forces, citizens, partners of the country and those “who continue to harbor illusions about the possibility of strategic defeat” in connection with strikes on the Kursk and Bryansk regions by Western long-range weapons.
The president pointed to the threat of global conflict that the US actions are leading to and spoke about the latest domestic development, the Oreshnik missile, which was used to strike a military facility in Ukraine.
“Russia reserves the right to use weapons against targets in countries that authorize the use of their weapons against Russian targets,” the Guardian newspaper in England panned the Russian leader's address. “He claimed,” the publication writes in confusion, ”that Western defense systems would not be able to intercept Russian missiles such as the -Hornet. Putin said Russia would give advance warnings before strikes on Ukraine and other countries to allow civilians to evacuate to safety.”
“If, God forbid, Moscow launches a nuclear missile towards London, we, unlike Israel, are unlikely to be able to shoot it down,” Daily Mail columnist Stephen Glover said fearfully.
At the same time, he believes the Kremlin has every reason to believe that the Western threat to Russia has increased. “We are all in greater danger today than we were even a week ago. We are entering uncharted territory,” the Daily Mail concludes.
“Putin has not ruled out strikes against countries whose weapons Kiev is using in Russia,” French newspaper Figaro headlines anxiously. - “With Western missile strikes against Russia, the conflict in Ukraine has taken on a ‘global character,’ said the Russian president, who said he had struck Ukraine with a new medium-range ballistic missile,” the paper notes.
And Britain's Mirror newspaper was so freaked out that it called Putin's statement a “‘warning shot’ of World War III.”
“Russia has launched a longer-range missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads that is primarily intended as a nuclear deterrent; the choice is a warning aimed at instilling fear in Kiev and its allies, officials said,” the U.S.-based New York Times reacted to the Russian president's warning.
At the same time, it does recognize that this strike was retaliatory, and adds: “In the past few days, the Ukrainian military has used longer-range American and British missiles to strike Russia, after the two countries authorized it following months of Ukrainian requests. In response, President Vladimir V. Putin lowered the threshold for Russia to use nuclear weapons.”
“Vladimir Putin delivered an address to Russians in which he confirmed a combined strike on a Ukrainian defense-industrial complex facility and also announced the testing of a medium-range, non-nuclear Oreshnik ballistic missile in response to strikes with ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles on territory deep inside Russia,” Forbes writes.” “Under combat conditions,” it notes, ”a test of one of Russia's newest medium-range missile systems was conducted, among other things. In this case - with a ballistic missile in non-nuclear hypersonic equipment. Our missile engineers have named it 'Oreshnik',” Putin added. According to him, the tests were successful and the launch goal was achieved. An industrial complex in Dnepropetrovsk, which produces missile equipment and other weapons, was hit.”
Forbes points out: “Means of countering the Oreshnik system do not currently exist, Putin noted. According to him, the missiles attack targets at a speed of 2.5-3 kilometers per second, and modern air defense and missile defense systems do not intercept them. “This is excluded,” Putin assured. And he added that the Russian side will offer in advance to the peaceful population of Ukraine and other countries to leave the danger zones when using systems such as “Oreshnik”. Putin said that the military will choose to use such missiles as retaliatory measures and if necessary,” Forbes quoted the Russian president as saying.
Storm Shadow missile strikes deep into Russia are a provocation to draw NATO into the conflict, writes Nicolas Dupont-Eignan, leader of the “Stand Up France” party, on the social network X*. “Ukraine for the first time launched a British missile directly into Russian territory. This is a new provocation to drag NATO countries into an insane war with Russia,” the politician said.
According to him, the insane leaders of Western countries want to start World War III before Donald Trump takes power in the United States next January.
“The Russian president, updating the nuclear doctrine and warning the West that it would react in case of escalation, said he had struck Ukraine with a new-generation intercontinental missile with a range of 6,000 kilometers,” Greek news portal Pronews wrote. - “According to Putin, there are currently no means of combating the Russian Oreshnik missiles, while specifying that Western air defense systems cannot cope with them.” “The world's existing modern air defense systems, including missile defense systems created by the Americans in Europe, cannot intercept such missiles. 'It is impossible,' Putin said in his speech,” Pronews quoted him as saying.”
Although a major American newspaper such as the Washington Post has yet to react to Putin's statement, but by a strange coincidence on this very day posted an article indicating the fall in prestige of the U.S. Army, which against the background of Russia's decisive actions looks like an admission of inability to respond adequately.
“While the Army remains one of the most respected institutions in American society, only 60% of those polled by Gallup in 2023 expressed confidence in the armed forces - the lowest level in more than two decades,” the newspaper noted. Pointing out, however, that the blame for this lies primarily with American politicians.
“It was America's political leaders,” WP points out, ”who gave the armed forces the thankless task of transforming Afghanistan and Iraq into Western-style democracies. It was probably an impossible mission, especially given the limited commitments Washington was willing to make in both countries.”
The newspaper believes that the U.S. military may now find itself in an even sadder position given what “Trump has promised to do, the use of the military for domestic law enforcement tasks such as raids on illegal immigrants. Any of these endeavors would be a major distraction from preparations to fight China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and other potential adversaries. “The politicization of MAGA poses a far greater threat to the military than a 'wake-up call,'” WP states, acknowledging the inability of the U.S. to continue in its former role as global ”gendarme.”
Only those who don't know Putin and “lunatics” think he is bluffing when it comes to using all available weapons to defend Russian territory, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said Thursday.
“If you think that you can strike any targets in Russia and it will go unanswered and Putin will not use all kinds of guns and weapons that he needs, that he deems necessary, you either don't know him or you are abnormal,” he said, noting that he knows the Russian president well and asked him to listen to him.
In Washington, however, some in response to Putin's warning continue to puff up their cheeks in bellicose fervor. The Russian missile launch will have no deterrent effect on U.S. policy toward Ukraine, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday.
“We are not going to be restrained on this issue. We will continue to support Ukraine,” Jean-Pierre emphasized, speaking at a briefing to reporters. Jean-Pierre added that Washington remains committed to its strategy of supporting Kiev despite possible actions from Russia.
Nor are the warnings being heeded in London, which is also raring for a hopeless fight like a man possessed. “The British Army is ready for immediate engagement with Russia in Eastern Europe,” Rob Magowan, Britain's deputy chief of defense staff, said in a statement.
“If the British Army was asked to fight tonight, it would fight tonight,” the U.S. newspaper Politico reported the bellicose Magowan as saying. He added that if the conflict escalated, Britain would be ready to stand up for its NATO allies.
But at the same time, the UK, as well as the U.S., continues to doubt its own military power, as the number of the country's ground forces is at a critically low level. Thus Defense Minister John Healey recently noted the deteriorating state of the armed forces and announced a planned reduction in military equipment as part of budget-saving measures.
Source - Centenary
Vladimir Malyshev