Vladimir Putin is considering placing missiles within range of Britain and other Western allies in response to new rules allowing Ukraine to fire Nato weapons into Russia.

The Russian president said he could respond “in kind” by deploying his weapons to allies closer to Europe and the US in a threat with echoes of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

In a heated interview – in which he also dismissed as “bo---cks” Russia’s threat to Nato – Putin said that Ukraine using Western weapons inside Russia for the first time “marks their direct involvement” in a war with Russia.

“Delivering arms to a warzone is always bad. Even more so if those who are delivering are not just delivering weapons but also controlling them. This is a very serious and very dangerous step,” Putin said in a rare interview with Western media.

“If they consider it possible to deliver such weapons to the combat zone to launch strikes on our territory and create problems for us, why don’t we have the right to supply weapons of the same type to some regions of the world where they can be used to launch strikes on sensitive facilities of the countries that do it to Russia?

“We will think about it,” he added.

Britain, Germany, France and the US recently changed their rules to allow their weapons to be used by Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia to prevent a renewed invasion from the north.

Earlier on Wednesday, a Western official and US senator said Ukraine has already used US weapons to bomb targets across the border, after gaining Joe Biden’s approval. The US president’s new guidance allows US arms to be used for the limited purpose of defending Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.

Putin singled out Germany in his comments to Western journalists gathered in St Petersburg for a major economic forum, warning that the use of its weapons would mark a “dangerous step” and ruin relations between Berlin and Moscow.

“When German tanks first appeared on Ukrainian soil, it already produced such a moral ethical shock in Russia, because relations towards [Germany] in Russian society had always been very good,” he said.

“Now, when they say that some more missiles will appear that will strike targets on Russian territory, this, of course, is ultimately destroying Russo-German relations.”

‘Russia doesn’t have imperial ambitions – it’s bol---cks’

In the press conference with the heads of major Western news agencies Putin denied that he had “imperial ambitions” to expand Russia’s borders.

”They’ve come up with this idea that Russia wants to attack Nato,” he said, banging his fist on the table.

“Have you lost your mind? Are you as thick as two short planks? Who made this up? It’s nonsense, it’s bo---cks,” he said, according to an AFP translation.

”There is no need to look for some imperial ambitions of ours. There are none.”

Putin has barely addressed international journalists since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine and he has not taken questions from Western journalists since the invasion.

Russia denied for months that it was preparing a military offensive in Ukraine before launching the assault, accusing Nato powers of trying to use their Ukrainian ally to harm Russia.

‘We’ll use all means at our disposal’

Despite denying the possibility of attacking Nato countries, Putin cautioned the West that Russia could use “all available means” to defend itself if its sovereignty or territorial integrity were threatened.

He said that Russia’s nuclear doctrine permits its weapons to be used in response to several threats.

“For some reason, the West believes that Russia will never use it,” Putin said. “We have a nuclear doctrine, look what it says. If someone’s actions threaten our sovereignty and territorial integrity, we consider it possible for us to use all means at our disposal. This should not be taken lightly, superficially.”

Putin also touched upon Russia-US relations in the meeting, telling journalists that nothing will change between the two countries regardless of whether Mr Biden or Donald Trump wins the presidential election in November.

“We will work with any president the American people elect,” Putin said. “I say absolutely sincerely, I wouldn’t say that we believe that after the election something will change on the Russian track in American politics,” he added. “We don’t think so. We think nothing that serious will happen.”

Putin declined to give the number of Russia’s battlefield losses in conflict with Ukraine, which has raged for more than two years, saying only that Ukraine’s were five times higher.

“I can tell you that as a rule, no one talks about it,” Putin said when asked why Russia had not yet disclosed a figure. “If we talk about irrecoverable losses, the ratio is one to five.”

The issue of military casualties is extremely sensitive in Russia. All criticism of the conflict is banned and “spreading false information” about the army carries a maximum 15-year jail sentence.