(Newsweek) – The Kremlin has issued a stark statement about the U.S. as relations with Washington hit a new low over Ukraine’s use of American-supplied weapons on Russian territory.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, called the United States “an enemy” reportedly for the first time during a press briefing on Tuesday.
Agentstvo, an independent Russian investigative site, said that neither Peskov nor the Russian president has ever called the U.S. or other countries the Kremlin considers to be “unfriendly” an enemy of Russia.
“We are now an enemy country for them, just as they are for us,” Peskov told reporters when commenting on claims made by former American intelligence officer Scott Ritter that he was barred from traveling to Russia and had his passport confiscated by border officials.
In a rare sit-down with international journalists, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Moscow could provide long-range arms to others to strike Western targets.
WATCH:
The Kremlin’s shift in rhetoric comes after President Joe Biden granted Ukraine permission to use some American-supplied weapons to strike targets in Russia.
The Biden administration last week said it moved at “lightning speed” to allow Ukraine to use some weapons to strike certain targets inside Russia. Kyiv may use the weapons in Russian territory bordering northeast Ukraine for the purpose of defending its Kharkiv region, but the use of long-range missiles such as ATACMS is still prohibited on Russian soil, a U.S. official told Newsweek.
Putin warned last week that NATO countries, “especially the ones based in Europe, particularly in small European countries, should be fully aware of what is at stake” by permitting Ukraine to strike Russian territory with Western weapons.
“They should keep in mind that theirs are small and densely populated countries, which is a factor to reckon with before they start talking about striking deep into Russian territory,” he said. “This constant escalation can lead to serious consequences.” Read more here…