Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the Federal Assembly, including the State Duma parliamentarians, members of the Federation Council, regional governors and other high-ranking officials, in Moscow, Russia March 1, 2018. Sputnik/Alexei Nikolskyi/Kremlin via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Moscow would regard a nuclear attack on its allies as a nuclear attack on Russia itself and would immediately respond.

Putin said that Russia had tested an array of new nuclear weapons, including a new nuclear-powered missile at the end of 2017 which could reach almost any point in the world and could not be intercepted by anti-missile systems.

“We would consider any use of nuclear weapons against Russia or its allies to be a nuclear attack on our country. The response would be immediate,” Putin said in a speech to Russian lawmakers.