Putin also accused the West of instigating other conflicts.
“If it comes to a direct attack on the Russian Federation, in this case we are talking about Kaliningrad but possibly some other territories, of course the issue of use by the Russian Federation of all arms at the disposal of our country will inevitably and immediately be on the agenda,” he said.
He accused Nato of holding naval manoeuvres in the Baltic Sea that he argued represented serious threats to Kaliningrad. If the territory came under Western blockade, he said Russia would be prepared to use all means and forces, including nuclear.
“We are not threatening anyone. We do not intend to attack anyone in 2029, in 2030, in 2050. But if we come across an aggression we will have to respond. Citizens of European countries should be fully aware of that.”
He added that while he was aware of the nuclear capabilities of countries such as the UK and France, the weapons at its disposal were unparalleled.
Western officials have long feared that, rather than invading Kaliningrad, Russia would use the relatively small distance between the exclave and ally Belarus – known as the Suwalki Gap – were it to attempt to seize Lithuanian territory by force.
Lithuania’s prime minister told the BBC last week that his country had made evacuation plans in case Russia invaded and thousands of Nato troops are stationed there.
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte made clear on Wednesday that none of the alliance’s “exercises or activities” posed any threat to Moscow and that the Kremlin’s messaging was “absolutely not called for and not helpful”.
Putin spent some time talking about leading countries in the world having armaments at their disposal that could “swipe away all life or at least push the Earth to catastrophic consequences”, and said that unfortunately no-one could be sure they would never be used.
He drew the analogy of a gun sitting on a theatre stage – if it was hanging there at the start of the show, it would certainly be fired at the end.
He appeared to call for the rules of warfare to be rewritten and warned of the increasing risk of artificial intelligence.
“The automation and digitalisation of warfare leads to its gamification. This leads to degradation and sliding back of humanity to barbarity,” he said.
