Putin Says That Tomahawks to Ukraine Would Destroy U.S.-Russia Relationship

While Russian President Vladimir Putin, during his extensive [comments at the Valdai Forum](http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/78134 on Oct. 2, indicated that Russia had the capability to deal with the U.S. Tomahawk missiles, if they were provided to the Ukrainians, Putin also indicated that it would be a significant escalation. Speaking to Rossiya 1 channel’s Pavel Zarubin on Oct. 5, President Putin stated clearly that for the U.S. to decide on supplying Tomahawks to Ukraine, it would severely harm U.S.-Russia relations. When it comes to American deliveries of new weapons systems, Putin said, “including long-range, high precision systems like the Tomahawk, and so on. I’ve already said that this will lead to the destruction of our relations. Or at least the positive trends that have emerged in these relations.”