Putin told state TV Moscow would respond in kind if necessary.
“I want to note that in the Russian Federation there is a sufficient stockpile of different kinds of cluster bombs. We have not used them yet. But of course if they are used against us, we reserve the right to take reciprocal action.”
Putin said he regarded the use of cluster bombs as a crime and that Russia had so far not needed to use them itself despite having suffered its own ammunition issues in the past.
Human Rights Watch says both Moscow and Kyiv have used cluster munitions. Russia, Ukraine and the US have not signed up to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans the production, stockpiling, use and transfer of weapons.
Putin also told State TV he saw nothing wrong in Russian specialists examining captured Western military equipment and missiles, such as the Storm Shadow missiles Britain supplied to Ukraine, in order to see if there was anything useful that could be used in Russia’s own military hardware.
Source: CNA
