Putin on cluster munitions: ‘We reserve the right to reciprocate’

President of Russia Vladimir Putin said that Russian troops could use cluster munitions if Ukraine’s Armed Forces use the weapons, reports Interfax.

“Russia has a sufficient supply of various kinds of cluster munitions,” Putin said in an interview on the program “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin” on state-owned television Network Russia-1. 

“So far we haven’t been doing that, haven’t been using them, and we didn’t have the need to despite a well-known [ammunition] shortage at a certain period in time,” said Putin.

“But, of course, if they use [cluster munitions] against us, we reserve the right to reciprocate,” the Russian president continued.

Putin also suggested that Ukraine’s Western allies decided to supply Ukraine with cluster munitions “because they have a general ammunition shortage.”

He noted that the U.S. has called the use of cluster munitions a crime. “That’s how I think we should treat it,” Putin said.

As independent publication Agentstvo points out, former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki called the use of cluster munitions a crime in February 2022, referring to Russia’s use of the weapons against Ukraine, including civilian populations.