The Kremlin said Wednesday it believes Washington has already given Ukraine approval to strike targets inside Russia using U.S.-supplied long-range rockets.
“All these decisions have most likely already been made, it can be assumed with a high degree of probability,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“At this point, media outlets are simply carrying out an information campaign to formalize a decision that has already been made,” he claimed.
Peskov warned that Moscow would deliver an “appropriate” response if Ukraine’s Western allies eased restrictions on using long-range weapons to hit targets deep inside Russian territory, though he did not specify what that response might entail.
His remarks followed comments by U.S. President Joe Biden, who said his administration was “working out” whether to allow Kyiv to use long-range weapons as top U.S. and U.K. diplomats arrived in Ukraine to discuss the issue.
Ukraine has been lobbying for permission to use U.S.-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), which can hit targets up to 300 kilometers (190 miles) away, to strike deep within Russia.
While Biden has expressed strong support for Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion, he has also made clear that he wants to avoid a direct conflict between the U.S. and Russia, both nuclear powers.
However, Peskov on Wednesday accused Washington and its European allies of failing to “distance themselves” from what he claimed was their direct involvement in the Ukraine war.
“Each new step increases the degree of this involvement,” Peskov said when asked if lifting restrictions on long-range strikes against Russia could lead to a wider conflict with the West.
Earlier this year, the U.S. gave Ukraine the green light to use Western-supplied weapons against Russian forces when directly engaged across the border.
Peskov said that allowing Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory would further justify Moscow’s military actions, claiming Russia’s invasion in early 2022 was a response to Western support for Ukraine.
AFP contributed reporting.
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