MOSCOW: Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Ryabkov on Monday said the United States could face fatal consequences if it ignored warnings of Moscow not to let Ukraine use arms provided by Washington to hit targets inside Russia.
Ryabkov was commenting on US President Joe Biden’s decision last week to allow the use of US-supplied arms to strike targets inside Russia.
Russian state news agency quoted Ryabkov as saying that American leaders could have fatal consequences for any miscalculations in Ukraine.
He said the US officials underestimate the seriousness of the rebuff they may receive.
President Vladimir Putin, last week said the NATO countries were playing with fire and risking a deeper conflict in the region.
He said the West would be directly involved in the conflict if Ukraine used these weapons to strike deep inside Russia, as such attacks would need its satellite, intelligence, and military support.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg last week said that NATO had the right to help Ukraine to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity and this did not make the military alliance a party to the conflict.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Washington for allowing it to use US-supplied HIMARS rocket systems in the Kharkiv region.
Ukraine has long said that restrictions on the use of Western-supplied weapons limit its ability to defend itself.
Ryabkov further said that attempts by Kyiv to attack Russian early-warning radar systems would be repulsed and Moscow may respond strongly to such steps.
A Kyiv intelligence source last week said that a Ukrainian drone had hit a long-range radar deep inside Russia that is part of Moscow’s early-warning system.
