Russia always retaliates after Ukrainian strikes — Putin

ST. PETERSBURG, (TASS): Russia always responds militarily to Ukrainian strikes, but it seldom presents its retaliation as breaking news, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Friday.

“We hit military targets with high-accuracy long-range and high-yield weapons and succeed in this respect. It’s enough to see arms depots, warehouses and barracks housing personnel, including foreign mercenaries destroyed. <…> There always follows a retaliation. We just avoid presenting it as breaking news very often, but this retaliation is sensitive and the enemy knows this,” Putin said.

Kiev must understand that in case of continued attacks on Russian territory, Moscow will consider creating a “sanitary cordon” in Ukraine, he warned.

“If these attacks on our adjacent territories continue, we will consider creating a ‘sanitary cordon’ on Ukrainian territory. They just have to realize where they are heading for,” he said.

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), the largest annual economic and business event in Russia, is running on June 14-17. The theme of this year’s forum is “Sovereign Development as a Basis for a Just World: Joining Forces for Future Generations”. The event is organized by the Roscongress Foundation. TASS is its official media partner.