The Biden administration joined the leaders of Germany, the Nordic countries and the Baltic states in lifting formal restrictions on the use of NATO long-range strike systems sent to Ukraine to target areas deep inside Russia.
As one realizes, this is an unprecedented action of escalation, which remains to be seen how it will be carried out in practice
"We know that attempts are already being made to strike Russian soil with American-made weapons. This is enough for us and clearly demonstrates the extent of the involvement of the United States in this conflict ," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed the allies had approved the deployment of long-range strike weapons and said the bloc expected Kiev to use those weapons "in a responsible manner" in accordance with international law.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized Stoltenberg, saying in a Telegram post that "it is obvious that NATO was lying and creating a smoke screen, inventing a story that they supposedly had not yet decided to allow or not allow to the Kiev regime to carry out strikes. using Western weapons on Russian soil."
Earlier this week, Putin warned that NATO countries should know "what they're playing with" when it comes to authorizing long-range attacks on Russia through Ukraine .
"They must remember that these are, as a rule, states with a small territory, with a very dense population. This is a factor they should take into account before talking about striking deep into Russian territory," Putin said.
Sputnik asked a leading European defense commentator about the political and strategic implications of this move:
"The Russian attack near Kharkiv was used as a reason to change Western policy ," Mikael Valtersson, a former Swedish Armed Forces officer and military observer specializing in air defense, told Sputnik.
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