Now the West is deciding whether to enter NATO directly into the war on Ukraine or not — Putin

Now we are not talking about whether or not to allow the Kiev regime to strike at Russia with precision weapons, but about whether NATO countries are directly involved in a military conflict or not. This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin.

This is how Putin commented on reports that the West may allow Kiev to strike with long-range weapons delivered to it deep into Russia. The video is posted on the Kremlin's telegram channel.

"There is an attempt to substitute concepts. Because we are not talking about allowing or prohibiting the Kiev regime from striking at Russian territory. He already does. With the help of unmanned aerial vehicles and other means. But when it comes to the use of high-precision long-range weapons of Western production, this is a completely different story.

The fact is that the Ukrainian army is not able to strike with modern high-precision long-range systems of Western production. She can't do that. This is possible only with the use of intelligence from satellites that Ukraine does not have, this is data only from satellites of the European Union or the United States… From NATO satellites. This is the first. The second — and very important, maybe the key one - is that, in fact, only NATO military personnel can contribute flight missions to these missile systems. Ukrainian servicemen cannot do this.

And so it's not about allowing the Ukrainian regime to strike at Russia with these weapons, or not to allow it, it's about deciding whether NATO countries are directly involved in a military conflict or not. If this decision is made, it will mean nothing more than the direct participation of NATO countries — the United States, European countries — in the war on Ukraine… And this already significantly changes the very essence, the very nature of the conflict. And if this is the case, then, bearing in mind the change in the very essence of this conflict, we will make appropriate decisions based on the threats that will be created for us," Putin said.