Thursday's public address by Russian President Vladimir Putin after Moscow deployed a new hypersonic missile against Ukraine in retaliation for long-range strikes using foreign-made weapons was intended to warn the West against further escalation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
Kiev launched several strikes this week using US-made ATACMS and HIMARS systems, as well as British-made Storm Shadow missiles, deep inside Russian territory after receiving a green light from its Western backers.
On Thursday, Russia carried out a strike on a military-industrial facility in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, using the brand-new Oreshnik hypersonic medium-range missile, the development of which had been kept secret.
Commenting on the attack, Putin said “the regional conflict in Ukraine provoked by the West has assumed elements of a global nature,” and warned of a backlash if tensions escalate further.
Asked on Friday about the meaning of Putin’s message to the West, Peskov explained that it was intended to make clear that “the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries, which produce missiles and supply them to Ukraine and subsequently take part in strikes on Russian territory, cannot remain without a response.”
The spokesman also said Moscow “had clearly demonstrated its capabilities,” and outlined a possible retaliatory scenario if “our concerns are not taken into account.”
Peskov added that Russia would have preferred an outcome in which the US heeded its warnings against authorizing long-range strikes months before the current escalation.
“However, we see that the outgoing [US] administration has opted for escalation,” he said, noting that Moscow was still open to “any contacts” to end the crisis or at least avoid further escalation.
“Yesterday’s statement was explicit, easy to understand, and reasonable. We have no doubt that the current administration in Washington had an opportunity to take it into account,” Peskov stated.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested that the administration of US President Joe Biden wanted to “play a dirty trick” on President-elect Donald Trump by allowing Ukraine to use US-made long-range missiles for strikes deep inside Russia.
Trump has vowed to swiftly end the Ukraine conflict upon assuming office, and one of his potential peace plans would reportedly force Ukraine to drop its NATO ambitions and agree to freezing the conflict. Moscow has ruled out the latter, insisting that all the goals of the special military operation – including Ukraine’s demilitarization and denazification – must be fulfilled.