[Source: Reuters]

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he could deploy conventional missiles within striking distance of the United States and its European allies if they allowed Ukraine to strike deeper into Russia with long-range Western weapons.

Putin, in his first face-to-face meeting with senior editors of international news agencies since the war in Ukraine began, said the West was wrong to assume Russia would never use nuclear weapons, and said the Kremlin’s nuclear doctrine should not be taken lightly.

When asked about NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg’s calls to allow Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike Russian territory, Putin differentiated between different missiles but warned allowing Kyiv to strike Russia with ever more powerful weapons was a serious escalation that was drawing the West towards a war with Russia.

Russia’s response, the 71-year-old Kremlin chief said, would be to shoot down the Western missiles, and specifically mentioned U.S. ATACMS, and British and French missile systems.

Putin also said Moscow was considering deploying similar high-technology, long-range missiles close enough to strike the states that allowed Ukraine to strike Russian territory with such missiles.

Putin did not give specifics of where he was considering delivering such missiles.

President Joe Biden authorized Kyiv to launch some U.S.-supplied weapons at military targets inside Russia. Washington still prohibits Kyiv from striking Russia with ATACMS, which have a range of up to 186 miles (300 km), and other long-range U.S.-supplied weapons.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, during a visit to Kyiv on May 3, told Reuters Ukraine had a right to use the weapons provided by Britain to strike targets inside Russia, and it was up to Kyiv whether to do so.