Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the expanded boards of the Interior Ministry on February 26, 2020 in Moscow, Russia.
Mikhail Svetlov | Getty Images
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday warned in his annual speech on the State of the Union to provoke his country and promised a swift retaliation against anyone who crosses the Russian “red lines”.
Moscow will respond ‘hard’, ‘fast’ and ‘asymmetrically’ to foreign provocations, Putin told an audience of Russian top officials and lawmakers, adding that he ‘hopes’ no foreign actor would cross Russia’s ‘red lines’ not, according to a Reuters. translation.
Putin also pointed to the country’s planned investment in extensive military education, hypersonic weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles. But Russia wants peace and arms control agreements, he stressed at the same time.
The 68-year-old leader also condemned what he described as the continuing tendency of international actors to blame Russia for wrongdoing, saying it had become like a sport.
The remarks come in the last half hour of the 90-minute speech, which focused mainly on Russia’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic and local economic and social issues.
The speech was against the backdrop of deteriorating tensions with the US and the EU and follows the recent imposition of sanctions against Russia by the Joe Biden government over alleged cyberattacks, human rights violations and operations in Ukraine.