Putin does some serious sabre rattling according to
this story published in the Globe and Mail:
----------
If Ukraine hits Russia with Western missiles, it will spell war with NATO, Putin says
MARK MACKINNON SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT
ADRIAN MORROW U.S. CORRESPONDENT
KYIV
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that he will consider the NATO military alliance to be “at war” with his country if Ukraine is allowed to use U.S.- and British-supplied long-range missiles to strike Russian territory.
Mr. Putin gave the warning ahead of a
meeting Friday between U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Washington. The two leaders will consider
Ukraine’s request to allow it to use U.S.-made ATACMS tactical missile systems and British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles to strike military targets inside Russia – specifically the sites Russia uses to launch its near-daily missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities.
Mr. Putin said that giving Ukraine such permission would effectively amount to NATO firing its missiles into Russia, claiming that the 32-member military alliance was already helping Ukraine operate the missile systems and choose targets.
“This would in a significant way change the very nature of the conflict,” the long-ruling Mr. Putin said in remarks to state-controlled television on Thursday. “It would mean that NATO countries, the U.S., European countries, are at war with Russia.”
The U.S. reportedly shipped more than 100 ATACMS – an acronym for Army Tactical Missile System, with a range of up to 300 kilometres – to Ukraine earlier this year, while Britain has been supplying Kyiv with Storm Shadows, which have a range of up to 560 kilometres, since last year. Both systems were delivered with the restriction that they only be used to strike Russian military targets inside occupied areas of Ukraine.
John Kirby, spokesman for Mr. Biden’s National Security Council, said that the U.S. did not plan to announce any change to its policy out of the meeting with Mr. Starmer.
“I wouldn’t be looking for an announcement today about long-range strike capabilities inside Russia,” he told a media briefing in Washington before the meeting. “There’s no change to our policy with respect to that and, again, I wouldn’t expect to see a change to that policy today.”
Mr. Kirby did not, however, definitively rule out a change to the policy in future. And he would not say whether the United Kingdom or France would require U.S. permission to allow Kyiv to use missiles provided by those European countries to hit targets in Russia. This question is unclear because some components of the British and French missiles are provided by U.S. companies.
“I can’t speak for the British and the French one way or another,” he said. “These are sovereign countries and they have to decide.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hinted on Wednesday that the allies were looking favourably at Ukraine’s request to lift the restriction. “From day one we have adjusted and adapted as needs have changed, as the battlefield has changed. I have no doubt we will continue to do that,” he said during a joint visit to Kyiv with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
Russia has carried out air strikes on cities around Ukraine since the start of the war, and has recently escalated attacks on the country’s electricity grid and heating systems. Russia’s allies North Korea and Iran have helped supply the campaign with hundreds of ballistic missiles and thousands of explosive drones.
Mr. Putin said that if the U.S. and Britain allowed Ukraine to use their missiles to strike inside Russia, “we will take the appropriate decisions based on the threats that we will face.”
While Moscow has regularly warned that the conflict could grow if the West continues to provide military support to Ukraine, it’s less common for the warning to come from Mr. Putin himself. On Friday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he hoped leaders in the West had understood the message. “The statement made by President Putin yesterday is very important. It is extremely clear, unambiguous and does not allow for double readings. We have no doubt that this statement reached those it was intended for.”
The main headline in Russia’s Kommersant newspaper on Friday was blunt. “Vladimir Putin draws his red line.”
Mr. Kirby, however, downplayed the significance of the threat. “It’s hard to take anything coming out of Putin’s face at his word. This is not rhetoric that we haven’t heard from him before,” he said. “We take note of it. Got it. We have our own calculus for what we decide to provide to Ukraine.”
Ukrainian officials similarly argue that Russia can do nothing to enforce its red line – other than potentially rattle its nuclear sabre – since the large majority of its military is already deployed in Ukraine, leaving it unable to fight a war against NATO.
Tens of thousands of people have died since Mr. Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia currently occupies about 20 per cent of Ukrainian territory, while Ukraine recently captured a small part of Russia’s Kursk region.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday that Canada supports Ukraine using long-range weapons to “prevent and interdict Russia’s continued ability to degrade Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.”
With a report from Reuters
----------
I hope that more than a tiny handful of Canadians read this story and take a moment to consider Canada's capacity to deal with any threat to our peace and security.
