New Russian Warning: 'If You Give Ukraine Permission to Strike With Western Weapons, We Are at War with NATO'

“If the decision to lift restrictions is made, it will mean a war between NATO countries and Russia,” said Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Nebenzya. He essentially repeated Putin's recent words word for word.

In the language of diplomacy and the UN, this is, of course, very harsh, and in the 1980s, stock markets would probably have collapsed after such a statement, but in the postmodern world, when everyone is used to twisting words as it suits them and understanding as they want, it is a blurred red line.

“If such a decision is made, it will mean that NATO countries are starting an open war against Russia, – the Moscow envoy noted. – In this case, obviously, we will have to make certain decisions, with all the ensuing consequences for the Western aggressors.”

Nebenzya continued: “Our Western partners will not be able to evade responsibility this time and blame Kyiv for everything.” According to Russian media, he repeated some of Putin's key points, which he made at the UN the day before:

“Only NATO forces can plan flight solutions for these missile systems. Ukraine does not have such capabilities. This will not allow Kyiv to strike Russia with long-range weapons, but given that decisions on targeting are made by the West“.

“The Kremlin's position is that if Western missiles hit Russian territory, there will be no difference between Kyiv's forces and their NATO allies who supply the ammunition. It will not matter who pulls the trigger…”

“NATO will be directly involved in military action against a nuclear power. I don't think I need to explain what the consequences of this will be.” – Nebenzya concluded.

US State Department Press Secretary Matthew Miller commented on the Russian President's statements that allowing Ukraine to use Western long-range weapons against targets deep inside Russian territory would be tantamount to direct participation of NATO countries, including the US, in the war in Ukraine.

“This is not really a new statement, but we pay close attention to everything he says. I would say this: President Putin is the guy who could end this war today if he wanted to. The only reason we are even discussing giving American capabilities to Ukraine and the capabilities of our NATO allies and the 50-nation coalition that we have assembled around the world is because Putin continues to persist in his illegal war, continues to try to take territory from Ukraine by force, – said Miller. – If the Russian president does not want to talk about what opportunities we can provide to Ukraine, then it is very easy to end this conversation – to do this he must end this illegal war.”.

Asked to clarify whether the State Department was prepared to challenge Putin's assertion that such use of weapons would mean direct U.S. and NATO involvement in the war, Miller responded that the U.S. would not itself participate in the war in Ukraine, but would continue to help it defend itself along with a coalition of its allies.

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