The Kremlin has accused President Joe Biden of, “adding fuel to the fire” after it was reported he had given his approval to Ukraine using U.S.-made missiles to strike targets deep inside Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov is reported by the BBC to have said on Monday that the Biden administration was “continuing to stoke tension around this conflict.”
According to anonymous U.S. officials who spoke to media outlets, Biden has authorized Ukraine to use long-range missiles provided by the Pentagon to strike targets in the Russian region of Kursk.
Peskov told the Tass news agency, “If such a decision has indeed been formulated and communicated to the Kyiv regime, then, of course, this is a qualitatively new round of escalation of tensions, and a qualitatively new situation in terms of the involvement of the United States in this conflict.”
The Tass news agency, on its Telegram channel, said Peskov had described the idea of missile strikes inside Russia as “dangerous and provocative.”
Peskov referred journalists to a statement made by Putin in September, in which he said allowing Ukraine to target Russia would change “the very nature of the conflict dramatically.”
But Peskov said Putin was “open to any communication” but had not yet spoken to French President Emmanuel Macron, who was reported to be planning to call the Russian leader.
The UK and France have both supplied Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine, which could be used to hit targets in Russia, but so far, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Macron have not given permission.
