Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today vowed an “appropriate” response to Ukraine’s firing of US ATACMS missiles at Russia, condemning it as US interference in the war in Ukraine and calling it a “new stage” in the conflict.
“If long-range missiles are being fired from Ukraine towards Russian territory, it means that they are being operated by US military experts. We consider this a new stage in the Western war against Russia and we will react appropriately,” Lavrov told reporters in Rio de Janeiro at the G20 summit.
The Russian Defense Ministry said today that Ukraine had fired six US ATACMS ballistic missiles at Russia’s Bryansk region, 400 kilometres south of Moscow, overnight, and that the Russian missile system had shot down five missiles and damaged one.
This came days after the US gave Ukraine permission to target Russian territory with long-range US missiles it had provided.
Lavrov said the Ukrainians could not launch the ATACMS missiles “without the help of American experts and instructors” who, he said, provide “satellite data, programming and targeting.”
“It is impossible to use these technologically advanced missiles without the Americans,” he repeated.
Lavrov also recommended that the West read “in full” a new Russian doctrine that expands Russia’s ability to use nuclear weapons.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an amendment to the nuclear doctrine today that would see a major conventional attack on Russia by any country supported by a nuclear power as a joint attack by that country and that power on his country.
“Among the conditions justifying the use of nuclear weapons is the launch of ballistic missiles against Russia,” the doctrine states.
The Russian president announced this in late September and warned that his country could use nuclear weapons in the event of a massive air attack on Russia and that any attack carried out by a country that does not have nuclear weapons, such as Ukraine, but is supported by a power with atomic weapons, such as the United States, could be considered a “joint attack” that would potentially require resorting to nuclear weapons, the FP agency reminds us of the document published at the time and signed today.
