Kremlin says Biden missile decision on Ukraine is reckless

MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Monday that Russia would respond to what it called a reckless decision by Joe Biden’s administration to allow Ukraine to fire American missiles deep into Russia, which it said would draw the United States directly into the conflict.

Russia has been warning the West for months about how it would interpret such a decision, saying it would raise the risk of a confrontation with the US-led Nato alliance. The New York Times and Reuters reported that Biden’s administration had made the decision on long-range strikes, though there was no official confirmation from Washington.

“This decision is reckless, dangerous, aimed at a qualitative change, a qualitative increase in the level of involvement of the United States in this conflict,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

He said President Vladimir Putin had made Russia’s position clear when speaking in St Petersburg in September. Putin said on Sept 12 that Western approval for such a step would mean “the direct involvement of Nato countries, the United States and European countries in the war in Ukraine” because Nato military infrastructure and personnel would have to be involved in the targeting and firing of the missiles.

“It is obvious that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to take steps to continue adding fuel to the fire and continue to provoke tension around this conflict,” Peskov said. Sources quoted by the New York Times and Reuters presented the U.S. move as partly in response to the reported arrival of North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region to help repel a Ukrainian incursion.