TASHKENT. May 28 (Interfax) - Moscow is closely following the situation and certain statements following NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's remarks on the possibility of strikes inside Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"This is definitely a serious thing, and we're following and watching this most seriously," Putin said at a press conference following Russian-Uzbek top-level talks in Tashkent.
"As for everything currently surrounding the events on the approaches to Kharkov, it was they who provoked the events in that area themselves," Putin said.
He said he had warned half a year before that, "if they strike residential neighborhoods, we'll have to set up security zones."
"And I said exactly this recently: we've switched precisely to that. They first provoked us in Donbass, they hoodwinked us for eight years and deceived us by claiming that they'd be seeking to settle those issues peacefully, and they prompted us to make attempts to bring the situation to peace by armed means. Then they cheated us during the negotiating process, deciding that they'd beat Russia on the battlefield and cause it a strategic defeat. Then we warned them: stay away from our territory, don't shell Belgorod and other neighboring territories, or otherwise we'll have to set up security zones," Putin said.
Western media keep speaking solely about the Russian offensive on Kharkov but fail to mention attacks on Belgorod and other Russian areas near the border, he said.
"Now they're reaping the fruits of their work. The same can happen if they use long-range precision weapons," he said.
"This ongoing escalation may actually lead to serious consequences, and if these serious consequences take place in Europe, how will the United States act?" he said.