Vladimir Putin has threatened missile strikes on NATO military airfields if they are used by Ukraine as bases for F-16 supersonic fighters in a disturbing outburst that has once again raised the spectre of WW3 .
He also vowed attacks if the F-16 warplanes provided by the West to Kyiv should carry nuclear weapons - something no-one has even suggested. In the same breath, the unhinged dictator described as “complete nonsense” fears that he would attack NATO states in eastern Europe and the Baltics.
Seeking to sow confusion, Putin also ordered nuclear war-games in Siberia involving 300 units of military equipment and his mobile Yars strategic missile systems. On a visit to pilots at Torzhok in Tver region, the Kremlin ruler made clear when he would launch attacks on NATO airfields, referring to the F-16s which are due to come into service later this year after pilot training. If they put in F-16s - they are talking about it, they are training [Ukrainian] pilots, this will not change the situation on the battlefield,” he claimed.
“And we will destroy their aircraft in the same way that we destroy their tanks, armoured vehicles and other equipment, including multiple rocket launchers. Of course, if they are used from third country airfields, they become a legitimate target for us, wherever they are.”
The F-16s "are also carriers of nuclear weapons”, he said. “And we will also have to take this into account when organising combat operations.” This contradicted what he separately told the pilots. This is complete nonsense - the possibility of an attack on some other countries,” he said. “On Poland, the Baltic states, scaring the Czechs - just nonsense!"
The West’s trumpeting of the danger of Putin attacking a NATO country was “another way to deceive your population and extract additional costs from people, force them to bear this burden on their shoulders, that’s all,” he said. Meanwhile, footage from his defence ministry showed a regiment of Yars strategic missile launchers in Irkutsk region training at repelling an attack by subversion groups in a command-staff nuclear war game.
“The Yars regiment has gone on combat patrol routes during a command-staff exercise,” said the ministry. “It will change field positions and disperse missile battalions that will overcome contaminated areas. Specific attention is paid to repelling attacks of subversion groups.”
Yars missiles are currently the main element of the ground-based component of the Russian strategic nuclear force. The Mach 25 missiles have a range of up to 7,500 miles, enabling a strike on the US.