NATO Exercises and Russian Military Response

Well, along these lines, or as you put it, down these tracks,

we've now arrived at a rather interesting junction where NATO

exercises are taking place in the Baltic Sea.

Highly decisive statements are being made, threats are directed at

Kaliningrad, and the Russian side is promising to use all means at

its disposal, up to and including nuclear weapons, in the

event of an attempted blockade of Kaliningrad.

Is this already a genuine escalation where we stand on the brink of war?

Or are we still just playing a game of mutual intimidation?

We aren't trying to intimidate anyone, and what you just mentioned, the

foreign ministry statement and the letters the ministry sent to

several countries,

is not intimidation. It is a response to an attempt to intimidate

us.

After all, these statements by Western politicians,

European

politicians, about the necessity, the possibility,

and the preparations for a war with Russia in twenty twenty-nine or twenty thirty,

those aren't our formulations. That's what we hear coming from their

side,

and continuously so.

Continuously.

And then come the concrete actions.

NATO exercises in the Baltic Sea one after another, followed by

attempts to detain our ships and vessels.

All of this constitutes escalation, just as I noted in my address.

It is all escalation.

Then we began hearing statements regarding the Kaliningrad region.

What was laid out in the foreign ministry statement and in those letters that were

sent out is entirely accurate.

If it comes down to a direct attack on the Russian Federation, in this

case referring to Kaliningrad, though it could well involve other

territories

as well,

then naturally the question of the Russian Federation employing all weapons

systems at our country's disposal

will inevitably and immediately be placed on the agenda.

This is unavoidable, and this has nothing to do with the

specific

surname of the supreme commander-in-chief or the president of Russia.

It comes down to the fact that, as I understand it, the NATO

Secretary General spoke about Europe having three hundred million people, and

so forth.

Yes, that is precisely why it will be

inevitable for us to raise the question

of deploying all the forces and means at our disposal. Why?

First of all, we recognize that we would be facing an adversary whose

numbers are

twice our size.

That represents significant economic potential and significant military

potential. And yes, our conventional forces

and resources would

not be sufficient on their own to counter such a threat.

Therefore, we would have to leverage our competitive

advantages in this

conflict.

And what are those?

The reality is that within our self-defense arsenal, we possess

distinct competitive advantages.

Yes, of course, France and the United Kingdom are nuclear powers.

We understand this perfectly well and are fully conscious of it.

However, the strike capabilities that Russia possesses today are matched by

no one else. These constitute our competitive

advantages.

How else are we to resist an aggressor? We are not threatening anyone.

We are simply stating that our tools for self-defense

are not unlimited.

And incidentally, neither the letter nor the foreign

ministry statement

explicitly mentions the use of nuclear weapons.

They state, as I have just framed it, the deployment of all

forces and means at our country's disposal.

How that actually unfolds is a decision we will make

when the time comes.