Russia-Ukraine: Fury in Moscow over Biden’s decision to allow Kiev to attack Russian territory with US missiles

The Kremlin on Monday accused Joe Biden’s administration of “adding fuel to the fire and perpetuating tensions” by allowing Ukraine to use long-range US missiles to attack Russian territory.

Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the move represented a new level of US involvement in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

In a statement published this Monday, Moscow reiterated that it would consider the US missile attack on its territory as aggression on the part of the United States, and not on the part of Ukraine.

Ukraine has been using the US military’s long-range tactical missile system (ATACMS) for more than a year to attack Russian targets on Ukrainian territory.

But President Joe Biden’s decision will allow Kiev to attack Russian forces on its own territory with missiles a range of 300 kilometers more and it is difficult to stop

According to Steve Rosenberg, BBC correspondent and editor in Moscow, the move has drawn sharp reaction from various media and political figures in Russia.

Place web from a Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya GazetaGovernment-controlled, claims Biden has taken one of the most provocative and unexpected decisions of his administration and could have “disastrous consequences.”

Deputy Leonid Slutsky, head of Russia’s Liberal-Democratic Party, which is sympathetic to Vladimir Putin’s government, also assures that the decision will lead to a major escalation and serious consequences.

For his part, Russian senator Vladimir Dzhabarov described it as “An unprecedented step towards World War III,

President Vladimir Putin is still silent.

For many Western analysts and leaders, it is Russia that has “added fuel to the fire” by sending recent threats. North Korean soldiers in the war zone To fight alongside Russian forces against Ukraine.

According to US media sources, the change of course by the Biden government is due to the involvement of North Korean troops in the ranks of the Russian army.

In late September, Moscow announced changes to Russian nuclear doctrine and the preconditions under which Russia can use nuclear weapons.

In the West this remedy was interpreted as An indirect message to the United States and Europe So that they do not authorize Ukraine to use long-range American missiles on Russian territory.

Ukraine has been seeking permission to use ATACMS inside Russia for months.

“This is a very important decision for us,” Serhiy Kuzan, chairman of the Kiev-based Ukrainian Center for Security and Cooperation, told the BBC.

“It’s not something that will change the course of the war, but I think so will make our armies more equal,

Kuzan said the decision came just in time to counter the expected launch of a major offensive by Russian and North Korean troops, designed to drive Ukrainian forces from Russia’s Kursk region.

It is expected that an attack will take place in the coming days.

Analysis by BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner

As Russian forces launch their full-scale war against Ukraine on February 24, 2022, NATO, the West, and especially the White House, face a major challenge: providing substantial military aid to Ukraine without direct entry. How to provide confrontation with Russia?

This is a challenge that persists even today.

The most radical Western commentators, including former American and British generals, argue that Putin’s repeated threats of retaliation were never followed through and were only intended to scare NATO into sending Ukraine the kind of weapons it needs. Was.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is known to be cautious on the issue and is reported to be troubled by London’s more aggressive stance and the shipment of heavy weapons such as large battle tanks and F fighter jet-16s.

Ultimately, Putin understands that the old Cold War concept of mutually assured destruction (MAD) is still valid today.

Russia may have the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world, but the Kremlin knows that if a nuclear weapon were ever used on a Western city, Moscow would be destroyed within minutes.

However, there are several other, less destructive ways in which Russia could respond to the use of ATACMS missiles on Russian territory.

These include sabotaging undersea cables or arming Yemen’s Houthis with powerful anti-ship missiles.

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