At an extended press availability after the SCO assembly yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin took on all comers. Here are a few excerpts.
Asked about the potential for the SCO, Putin said: “This is one of the most powerful regional structures.” It is “more than half of the world’s population, or I think this is about one-third of the world’s GDP. What colossal reserves of natural resources, the logistics are crazy! That is, this is half the world…. Why is it so attractive? And it is attractive, because everything is decided by consensus and on the basis of agreements…. This is a platform for the development of common joint decisions that should benefit all participating countries. And in this sense, it seems to me that it has good prospects.”
On the central role of British weapons in attacking Russia, Putin reiterated that British military facilities in Ukraine were not exempt from attack: “I can confirm once again: any military facilities in Ukraine—our legitimate target, British, whatever.” The follow-up question and answer sent chills toward London: What of “British military industry that are [sic] located in Britain, can they become military targets?” Rather than ruling them out, Putin simply said: “This is a secret, a military secret.”
