WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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AUTHOR: M.J.
Russian officials have threatened that a possible decision by the West to allow Kiev to use donated weapons to strike deeper into Russian territory would result in a major escalation in the war against Ukraine, which could include the use of nuclear weapons.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, has warned that Kiev could turn into "a giant gray molten blob on the map" if restrictions on Ukraine's use of Western weapons are loosened.
Kiev has repeatedly said it must be able to launch strikes deep into Russian territory to defend against an invasion by Russian forces.
The idea gained traction in recent weeks when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made the point at a meeting with some European leaders who accepted the argument for giving Ukraine longer-range missile strike capabilities, with London reportedly moving closer to allowing Ukraine to use Britain's Storm missiles. Shadow on Russian territory.
US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer were expected to discuss the issue in Washington on September 13.
However, the White House did not mention the topic in its statement after Biden's meeting with Starmer.
The statement said only that the two leaders discussed a range of issues and "reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine as it continues to defend itself against Russian aggression."
In an apparent reference to the meeting, Medvedev wrote today that "Anglo-Saxon imbeciles" do not want to admit that there is an end to Russian "patience" and that the suggestions of experts who suggested that Russia could resort to using nuclear weapons against Ukraine could prove to be correct if patience wears out.
"What do Western leaders and their political establishments, playing war, think would be our country's reaction to probable missile strikes 'deep in [Russia's] territory'?" wrote Medvedev, who often used his position to issue threats to Kiev and the West after Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Medvedev said that a nuclear conflict is "a very bad story with a very difficult outcome", arguing that this is why Russia has so far not decided to use "non-strategic or strategic" nuclear bombs.
However, he said, if it came to that, it would leave a "gigantic gray melted blob" in place of Kiev, which he called the "hometown of Russia".
This kind of rhetoric intensified from Moscow as Zelensky lobbied more and more for greater possibilities of attacks on Russian territory.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on September 12 that any policy change that would allow the use of Western weapons for long-range strikes would mean the NATO alliance would be "at war" with Russia.
"If so, then, taking into account the changing nature of the conflict, we will make appropriate decisions based on the threats we will face," Putin said.
In June, Putin threatened to send long-range weapons in what he called an "asymmetric" response to areas of the world that could attack countries that supply weapons to Ukraine.
Russia also said it was changing its doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons, with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov saying on September 1 that the move was "linked to the escalation course of our Western adversaries".
On September 14, Ryabkov asserted that the West had already made a decision to give Ukraine permission to carry out long-range attacks on Russia, and that Moscow was "ready for anything" and would "respond with full force."
State Duma representative Andrey Kolesnik proposed on September 14 that Russia detonate nuclear weapons on its own territory to remind the West of the threat posed by Russia's nuclear arsenal.
"We should not relax. We have to carry out a nuclear explosion somewhere, at some test site," Kolesnik said in an interview with the online newspaper Lenta.ru.
"Nuclear tests are currently banned here, but maybe people should see what it's all about," he added
Andrij Jermak, head of Zelenskyi's cabinet, responded to comments from Moscow that "the Putin regime's loud horror stories only testify to its fear that its terror could come to an end."
"Strong decisions are needed," Jermak wrote on Telegram on September 14.
"Terror can be stopped by destroying the military facilities from which it originates," he added.
Permission to carry out strikes further into Russian territory, he said, "would speed up the solution and prevent Russian terror from spreading to other countries of the world."
