A close ally of President Vladimir Putin warned Western governments on Thursday that a nuclear war would ensue if they gave the green light for Ukraine to use long-range Western weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia.

A close ally of President Vladimir Putin warned Western governments on Thursday that a nuclear war would ensue if they gave the green light for Ukraine to use long-range Western weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia.

Armenia's prime minister said the CSTO, seen as Putin's NATO, "creates threats" for his country's future existence, after it pulled away from it.

Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson for Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, has stated that NATO's refusal to take Vladimir Putin's statements seriously regarding the supposed consequences of allowing Ukraine to attack Russian territory with long-range Western weapons is "provocative and dangerous".

The Kremlin on Wednesday described as "dangerous" comments by Jens Stoltenberg, the outgoing head of NATO, that a decision by the West to allow Ukraine to use Western long-range weapons to strike Russia would not be a red line that would prompt an escalation by Moscow.

On Wednesday, the Kremlin condemned comments by outgoing NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg as “dangerous”, Reuters reports. Stoltenberg had suggested that allowing Ukraine to use Western long-range missiles to strike Russian territory would not trigger an escalation from Moscow.