The spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, this evening (local time) stressed that any use of Western long-range missiles to strike inside Russia’s pre-2014 borders would “radically change the essence and nature of the conflict” and would signify the “direct participation” of the NATO countries in warfare against Russia. She stated: “Kiev’s use of long-range missiles to attack our territory will mean the direct participation of the United States and its satellites in hostilities against Russia. In this case, Russia’s response will be adequate and tangible.” Zakharova’s warning repeats what the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed to earlier in the day, what Russian Vladimir Putin had said, most famously on Sept. 12:
“I have mentioned this, and any expert, both in our country and in the West, will confirm this—the Ukrainian army is not capable of using cutting-edge high-precision long-range systems supplied by the West. They cannot do that. These weapons are impossible to employ without intelligence data from satellites which Ukraine does not have. This can only be done using the European Union’s satellites, or US satellites—in general, NATO satellites. This is the first point. The second point—perhaps the most important, the key point even—is that only NATO military personnel can assign flight missions to these missile systems. Ukrainian servicemen cannot do this. Therefore, it is not a question of allowing the Ukrainian regime to strike Russia with these weapons or not. It is about deciding whether NATO countries become directly involved in the military conflict or not.”
Otherwise, Viktor Bondarev, first deputy chairman of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security, and notably a former Russian Air Force commander-in-chief, told TASS that Russian troops are aware of the routes for military deliveries to the Ukrainian army, and long-range US weapons will be legitimate targets for Russia, just like any other armaments. “In any case, Russia has sufficient advanced capabilities to counter attacks by any weapon, including long-range weapons,” he added.
