A senior Russian diplomat warned that Western powers, led by the United States, had “already crossed the red lines” set by Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Ukraine war, hinting at a “possible military retaliation” by Moscow.
Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s first deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, told Newsweek that he believes the United States and other NATO member states are “adding fuel to the fire” by supplying Ukraine with military aid and weapons to help fight against Russian forces. .
The Kremlin had issued repeated warnings to the West about arming Ukraine, while the advanced US artillery missile systems “HIMARS”, in particular, aroused widespread Russian concern for their effectiveness in the conflict that erupted a year ago, as they were credited with balancing the war.
“Western countries have already crossed all red lines,” Polyansky told Newsweek. “There is already almost direct NATO involvement in the conflict, not only with weapons but with intelligence.”
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The Russian diplomat justified his statement, saying that “hitting targets through certain artillery systems, especially HIMARS, can only happen in coordination with Washington, and this has been recognized by Ukrainian officials.”
The Washington Post quoted 3 senior Ukrainian officials and a senior US official as saying that the United States and its allies “provide or confirm” the coordinates of Russian targets in the vast majority of strikes launched by Ukraine.
Polyansky added: “This means that NATO not only provides weapons, but also chooses targets for Ukrainian strikes. So what is this but direct participation in the conflict?”
And he continued, “Yes, there are no NATO forces on the ground, as the alliance countries consider that a red line. But as far as we understand, the red lines (of Russia) have already been crossed. This will of course affect our future relations with the countries concerned.”
“It is absolutely clear that any arms shipments to the conflict zone, of course, are tantamount to adding fuel to the fire,” he stressed.
Polyansky did not rule out Russia’s military retaliation against the United States in response to such actions, and said: “If you are dealing with a nuclear power and you are talking about the goal of defeating it, you must take into account all options for our possible response.”
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused the United States and other NATO members of waging a “proxy war” in Ukraine, and Polyansky asserted that “without the help of NATO member states, Russia would have defeated Ukraine long ago.”
On the other hand, Polyansky confirmed that “there are mercenaries from Western countries fighting in the ranks of Ukraine,” and said: “We know this from the people we captured and from the corpses we see on the battlefield.”
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