President Vladimir Putin said Russia wouldn’t back away from a second Cuban Missile Crisis if tensions between the two countries escalate, and suggested Moscow would have the upper hand in a nuclear conflict with the United States.

“They [the tensions] are not a reason to ratchet up confrontation to the levels of the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1960s. In any case that’s not what we want,” said Putin late Wednesday. “If someone wants that, well OK, they are welcome. I have set out today what that would mean.”

He said Russian armed forces could deploy nuclear missiles on ships and submarines in territorial waters outside the US if Washington begins to move new short- and intermediate-range rockets in Europe.

“We can put them, given the speed and range [of our missiles] … in neutral waters. Plus, they are not stationary; they move, and they will have to find them,” Putin said.

“You work it out. Mach 9 and over 1,000 kilometers,” he added, noting the speed and range of the rockets.

Putin’s remarks came after he warned that if Washington moves new missiles into Europe, he would retaliate by targeting where they are based and the US.

Tensions between the two countries have ramped up in recent weeks after the Trump administration announced its intention to withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty.

The US claims Moscow breached the agreement that bans the production, testing and deployment of cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of 310 to 3,410 miles in Europe.

In his annual state-of-the-nation speech earlier Wednesday, Putin vowed to keep in step with the US on new weapon development so that Russia would be prepared to respond to any threats.

The State Department dismissed Putin’s warning that he would target missile locations as propaganda intended to divert attention from their violations of the INF treaty.

NATO called the threats “unacceptable.”

The Cuban Missile Crisis, a standoff between the US and the USSR, unfolded over 13 days in 1962 and brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

President John Kennedy established a naval blockade around Cuba after the then-Soviet Union installed nuclear-armed weapons on the island. He also said he was prepared to use military force to neutralize the threat 90 miles off the US.

With Post wires