US officials criticize Putin's remarks on potential 'war with Russia'
US officials and lawmakers have shot back at Vladimir Putin after the Russian leader said that Nato’s potential lifting of restrictions on Ukraine to launch long-range strikes into Russia would mean Nato countries were “at war” with Russia.
“This will mean that Nato countries – the United States and European countries – are at war with Russia,” Putin told Russian reporters on Thursday. “And if this is the case, then, bearing in mind the change in the essence of the conflict, we will make appropriate decisions in response to the threats that will be posed to us.”
The remarks provoked an angry response in Washington, where officials accused Putin of sabre-rattling in order to scare Nato countries away from supporting Ukraine.
Senator Jim Risch, ranking member of the Senate foreign relations committee, told the Guardian that Ukraine should have authorisation to strike targets deep inside Russia, including active Russian bombers launching missiles against Ukrainian cities.
“Putin’s latest threats about direct confrontation with Nato are simply an effort to coerce the West out of supporting Ukraine,” Risch said. “He knows that long-range strikes from Ukraine would cause significant damage to his war effort. Several Russian missiles have landed in Nato territory and Nato has not escalated.”
“Ukraine must be allowed to defend itself, period,” he continued. “If that means striking a Russian bomber launching missiles at Ukrainian civilians from Russian airspace, then Ukraine should be able to take that shot.”
Speaking with reporters on Friday, US national security council spokesman John Kirby said that there would likely be no announcements about the lifting of restrictions on Ukraine’s use of British and French-supplied missiles in Ukraine.
But at the same time, he said that the US and its Nato allies have “our own calculus for what we decide to provide to Ukraine.”
“I never said that we don’t take Mr. Putin’s threats seriously,” Kirby said. “He starts brandishing the nuclear sword, for instance, yeah, we take that seriously. We constantly monitor that. He obviously has proven capable of aggression. He’s obviously proven capable of escalation… But it is not something that we haven’t heard before. So we take note of it. We got it.”