MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. The statement by President Vladimir Putin regarding the use of Russia's latest Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile came as a major warning to the West, experts believe.

In his televised address to the nation on November 21, Putin said that the United States and its NATO allies had authorized the use of long-range high-precision weapons before US and British missiles attacked Russian military facilities in the bordering regions of Kursk and Bryansk. According to him, Russia responded to these attacks by launching its latest Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile with a non-nuclear payload at a Ukrainian defense plant, Yuzhmash, in Dnepropetrovsk. The West’s provocative policy course can lead to major consequences in the event of further escalation, the Russian leader warned.

TASS has compiled the key facts behind the reaction to the head of state’s statement.

Prepared for any scenario

Putin’s statements showed how futile Western hopes that Russia would waver had been, and that the country is ready for any developments, Dmitry Suslov, deputy director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics, argues.

The important message in Putin’s speech was that "Russia does believe that the West has shifted from a proxy-war to direct war" and that the parties find themselves in "a global conflict" now, said Suslov, who is also on the expert panel at the Valdai Discussion Club.

The collective West had better "fear and quake" in the wake of Putin’s statement on the use of the latest missiles by Russia, Andrey Kartapolov, head of the Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) Committee on Defense, said.

Signal to the West

The use of the Oreshnik missile in the course of the special military operation sent a clear signal to countries in the North Atlantic Alliance that the Russian military can hit any NATO military target at any distance, the Brazilian magazine Forum reported. It suggested that the move also serves to sober the minds in Poland, as this was "a vaccine against the Polish idea to establish a no-fly zone in the skies over part of Ukraine that would enable the country to shoot down Russian missiles."

Putin showed a "red card" to those seeking to escalate the conflict, Bulgarian expert Boyan Chukov said.

Russia firing its latest Oreshnik intermediate-range missile sent a signal to the West that Moscow is ready to enter an intermediate-range missile race, the Royal United Services Institute's Military Sciences Director, Matthew Saville, pointed out.

Putin made it clear to Western countries that their actions can lead to a global nuclear conflict, Oleg Karpovich, Vice-Rector for scientific work of the Diplomatic Academy at the Russian Foreign Ministry, said.

Deputy chairman of Turkey’s Patriotic Party (Vatan Partisi) Hakan Topkurul described Putin’s statements regarding the use of a non-nuclear hypersonic missile against Ukraine as a major warning to the West and the North Atlantic Alliance.

Underestimated capabilities

Countries that have been providing military aid to Kiev had better ponder whether they may have been underestimating the capabilities of the Russian Armed Forces in an assumption that, apart from the Oreshnik missile, the country possesses other effective weapons, unheard of in the West, as well, Ralph Bosshard, a retired Swiss lieutenant colonel who specializes in political and military strategy, told TASS.

Putin responded to numerous provocations by NATO, and neither the United States nor the West can intercept Russia’s latest hypersonic missiles, said Karin Kneissl, the former Foreign Minister of Austria and the head of the GORKI Center at St. Petersburg State University.

At present, the Ukraine conflict is unlikely to escalate to a nuclear war as "Russia dominates on the battlefield," Jean de Gliniasty, who served as French Ambassador to Moscow in 2009-2013, told Le Journal du Dimanche in an interview.

The combat use of the Oreshnik was part of "a larger Russian effort to dissuade Western countries from deepening their involvement in Ukraine," the British magazine The Economist wrote.