NATO
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Norway's Prime Minister Jonas
Gahr Store (not pictured) attend a press conference in the Prime
Minister's residence in Oslo, Norway September 6, 2024. NTB/Thomas
Fure/via REUTERS /File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Kremlin calls Stoltenberg's comments on missile strikes on Russia 'dangerous'
MOSCOW,
Sept 18 (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Wednesday described as "dangerous"
comments by Jens Stoltenberg, the outgoing head of NATO, that a decision
by the West to allow Ukraine to use Western long-range weapons to
strike Russia would not be a red line that would prompt an escalation by
Moscow.
Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been pleading with allies for months
to let Ukraine fire Western missiles including long-range U.S. ATACMS
and British Storm Shadows into Russia to limit Moscow's ability to
launch attacks.
In
an interview with The Times published on Tuesday, Stoltenberg dismissed
a warning by Russian President Vladimir Putin last week that letting
Ukraine use such weapons to strike deep inside Russian territory would
mean the West was directly fighting Russia.
"There
have been many red lines declared by him before, and he has not
escalated, meaning also involving NATO allies directly in the conflict,"
said Stoltenberg, whose tenure as head of the military alliance ends in
October.
"He
has not done so, because he realises that NATO is the strongest
military alliance in the world. They also realise that nuclear weapons,
nuclear war, cannot be won and should not be fought. And we have made
that very clear to him several times."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Stoltenberg's remarks were dangerous.
"This
ostentatious desire not to take seriously the Russian president's
statements is a move that is completely short-sighted and
unprofessional," said Peskov.
Stoltenberg's position is "extremely provocative and dangerous," Peskov added.
A
senior NATO military official said over the weekend that Ukraine would
have good military reason to strike deeper into Russia using Western
weapons. Kyiv's allies, including the United States and Britain, are
currently discussing whether to give Kyiv a green light to do so.
Senior
Russian politicians and foreign policy hawks have suggested that Moscow
could respond with nuclear weapons. The head of Russia's nuclear
testing site said on Tuesday that his facility was ready to resume
testing "at any moment." Russia has the world's largest nuclear arsenal.
In
the course of the war, Washington and its allies have increased
military aid to Ukraine in ways that were unthinkable when it started,
including by providing tanks, advanced missiles and F-16 fighter jets.
That
has prompted some Western politicians to suggest Putin's nuclear
rhetoric is a bluff and that the U.S. and NATO should go all-out to help
Ukraine win the war. Zelenskiy has said Ukraine's incursion into
Russia, launched on Aug. 6, makes a mockery of Putin's red lines.
Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Mark Trevelyan