The Kremlin continues to frighten the world with a response after the US authorizes strikes deep into Russia, – ISW

The Kremlin continues to frighten the world with a response after the US authorized strikes deep into Russia, – ISW Vladislav Kravtsov

The Kremlin continues to use threatening rhetoric in an attempt to keep the United States from publicly authorizing Ukraine to use ATACMS missiles to strike deep into Russia. These attacks could be aimed at Russian and North Korean military targets.

This was reported by 24 Channel with reference to a report from the American Institute for the Study of War.

How the Kremlin reacted to the US permission for Ukraine regarding strikes

On November 8, Vladimir Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov stated that the United States was “adding fuel to the fire” and that permission for Ukraine to strike Russian military targets with ATACMS missiles would be a “new round of tension” and “high-quality US participation in the war.”

Peskov thus repeated Russian President Putin's statements on September 12 that Ukrainian strikes on Russia using Western-supplied weapons would mean “escalation and direct involvement of Western countries in the war.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also repeated Putin's September statements, claiming that Ukrainian long-range missile strikes on Russia would be “a radical change in the essence and nature of the war” and that “Russia's response will be tangible.”

Members of Russia's State Duma and Federation Council have also made similar threats, claiming that Russia would be “forced” to respond to this “escalation,” including with strikes on Ukraine using unspecified “new” weapons systems, and that Russia's new nuclear doctrine “will outline the consequences of this U.S. decision,” the analysts wrote.

They also stressed that some Russian officials and propagandists noted that the US had not yet officially confirmed permission for the ATACMS strike, likely trying to convince Washington to back down and refute media reports about permission. The propagandists also questioned Western media statements.

What US and Ukrainian officials said about permission for strikes

ISW writes that neither Ukrainian nor US officials have yet confirmed media reports about US permission for Ukrainian ATACMS strikes. However, US officials noted that Russia had escalated the war by deploying North Korean troops alongside Russian forces on the battlefield.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also did not directly confirm media reports that the US had given permission for limited ATACMS strikes, but said on November 17 that “strikes are not carried out with words” and “such things are not announced” but that “the missiles will speak for themselves.”

US Deputy National Security Advisor Jonathan Finer also did not confirm the US permission for the strike, but noted that he had directly responded to Peskov, saying that it was Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine that “sparked the fire.”

The American publication Axios reported on November 17 that the Biden administration had granted Ukraine permission to use ATACMS deep into Russia in order to hold North Korea from sending more troops to Russia for war.

The publication also reported that US officials hope that North Korea might reconsider its decision to deploy military personnel to Russia if Ukrainian forces strike North Korean forces in the Kursk region.