Moscow’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned the West that any talk of using long-range missiles to strike Russian territory is very dangerous. Lavrov said that those continually supplying weapons to Ukraine and allowing the expansion of their use are “asking for trouble.”
Lavrov said at a press conference on Tuesday, that Ukraine’s demands for permission from its Western allies to strike deep into Russia with long-range Storm Shadow missiles are blackmail. “This is blackmail, it is an attempt to create an impression that the West wants to avoid excessive escalation, but in fact this is a ruse,” Lavrov said according to a report by RT, stressing “The West does not want to avoid escalation. The West is asking for trouble, to put it bluntly. I reckon that this is already obvious to everyone.”
Ukraine has been begging the West for months to use Storm Shadows against targets deep inside Russian territory. Kiev wants to launch the missiles at Russia’s heartland as “demonstration” attacks, The Guardian reported on Saturday. The outlet cited a senior Ukrainian official as saying Russia would consider negotiating only if it believed Ukraine had the ability “to threaten Moscow and St Petersburg.”
The West is going down a dangerous path if it decides to allow Ukraine to broaden the use of weapons. “For a long time, we have been hearing these speculations about allowing the use of not only Storm Shadow but also US long-range missiles…We will repeat that playing with fire – and they are like children playing with matches – is a very dangerous thing to do for grown-ups who are entrusted with nuclear weapons in one or another Western country,” Lavrov stated.
Russia Makes More Threats Against Ukraine With “Harsh Response” Rhetoric
Storm Shadow missiles were developed primarily by an Anglo-French collaboration and are now manufactured by European joint venture MBDA. At the same time, some of the components are supplied by the United States, which means the White House also has to agree to their use inside Russia. The Biden administration has so far refused to do so. –RT
Recently, Ukraine’s ruler, Volodymyr Zelensky said what we have been warning of, which is a lack of follow-through when Moscow’s “red lines” are “crossed.” Zelensky sees this as an excuse to push Russia further since the retaliations have never come. He has also previously urged the West not to fear a potential escalation by Moscow because they haven’t done so yet, and has said that Kyiv’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region proves that Moscow has no “red lines.”
It’s being noticed that Russia’s restraint is one of the last thin strings keeping this war from going global. Lavrov said last week that “Zelensky would never have decided [to attack Russian territory] if the United States had not instructed him to do this.”
But with plentiful empty threats coming from Russia, it’s understandable why Ukraine is intent on continuing to cross every single one of Russia’s red lines. Moscow continues to prove it has no actual red lines, but that’s fortunate for this planet, as it’s holding back World War 3.
Stop The Denial: Ukraine Is A Proxy War That Will Lead To Wider World War
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