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Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov attends a meeting chaired by
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course of Russia-Ukraine conflict and the continuing conflict between
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Russia warns US against 'fatal' miscalculation in Ukraine
MOSCOW,
June 3 (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said
on Monday the United States could face "fatal consequences" if it
ignored Moscow's warnings not to let Ukraine use weapons provided by
Washington to strike targets inside Russia.
Ryabkov was commenting on President Joe Biden's decision last week to approve the use of U.S.-supplied weapons to hit targets inside Russia that were involved in attacks on Ukraine's Kharkiv region.
"I
would like to warn American leaders against miscalculations that could
have fatal consequences. For unknown reasons, they underestimate the
seriousness of the rebuff they may receive," state news agency RIA
quoted Ryabkov as saying.
He
referred to comments last week by President Vladimir Putin, who said
NATO countries were playing with fire and risking a deeper global
conflict - one of a series of warnings from Moscow about the risk of a
serious escalation.
"I
urge these figures (in the U.S.) ... to spend some of their time, which
they apparently spend on some kind of video games, judging by the
lightness of their approach, on studying what was said in detail by
Putin," Ryabkov said.
Putin had delivered "a very significant warning and it must be taken with the utmost seriousness”, he added.
Putin
said the West would be directly involved in any use of its weapons by
Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia, because such attacks would require
its satellite, intelligence and military help.
NATO
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last week that NATO had the
right to help Ukraine uphold its own right to self-defence, and this did
not make NATO a party to the conflict.
Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said at the weekend that Kyiv was
grateful to Washington for allowing it to use U.S.-supplied HIMARS
rocket systems in the Kharkiv region, but this was not enough. Ukraine
has long argued that restrictions on the way it can use Western-supplied
weapons are seriously limiting its ability to defend itself.
Russian
news agencies quoted Ryabkov as saying that attempts by Kyiv to attack
Russian early-warning radar systems would be thwarted and Moscow may
respond asymmetrically to such steps.
A
Kyiv intelligence source said last week that a Ukrainian drone had
targeted a long-range radar deep inside Russia that is part of Russia's
early-warning system to detect whether it is under nuclear attack.
Reporting by Reuters, writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise