Moscow has the capability to respond to any threat, the chair of the Federation Council has warned
Russia has the means, including “superweapons,” to give an appropriate response to any act of aggression against the country, Federation Council chairwoman Valentina Matvienko has said.
Speaking at a Senate meeting on Wednesday, Matvienko commented on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s address to the nation and the use of the new Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile against a military facility in Ukraine last week. The president warned that Moscow reserves the right to strike countries that allow Kiev to use Western-supplied arms against Russia, and explained that the use of the Oreshnik was a response to the “aggressive actions of NATO members” who support Ukraine.
Matvienko called it a “powerful act of modern geopolitics” and “a powerful signal” that has been received “by all addressees.” However, she stressed that the use of the Oreshnik was “not an ultimatum, or a threat, as Western media have tried to represent it.”
“This is our response to the ongoing escalation by the West and the steps that led to the attack on Russian facilities using long-range weapons. We warn that this is unacceptable,” Matvienko said, adding that the use of the missile is also a “demonstration that we are ready for any development of events and we have the means, including superweapons, to give a tangible and inevitable response.” The chairwoman did not elaborate on which “superweapons” she was referring to.
“As the president said, there will always be a response,” Matvienko said.
She also suggested that Putin’s speech and the deployment of the Oreshnik missile have “great potential to tip the scales in favor of choosing a peaceful way to resolve the [Ukraine] conflict with unconditional respect for the interests of Russia, our security and our sovereignty.”
Matvienko expressed hope that Western leaders will draw the right conclusions from the latest developments, “come to their senses and admit that they have lost, that they have failed to achieve their goals of containing Russia’s development, that they have failed to inflict a geopolitical defeat on Russia, and sit down at the negotiating table on a wide range of issues.” Failure to do so will lead to a dead end, she warned.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has suggested that the Ukraine conflict is still “a very long way off from a political and diplomatic settlement” given the situation on the battlefield.
The diplomat noted that the West is still “obsessed” with the idea of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia, and warned that Moscow will respond to Kiev’s latest attacks on Russia’s internationally recognized territories using Western-supplied long range missiles.
