Russia Warns US Against Fatal Miscalculations Over Ukraine

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Ryabkov. (Wikimedia Commons/CTBTO Photo Sophie Paris)

JAKARTA - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Monday the United States could face "fatal consequences" if it ignores Moscow's warnings not to let Ukraine use weapons supplied by Washington to attack targets inside Russia.

"I would like to warn American leaders against making a fatal miscalculation. For some unknown reason, they underestimate the seriousness of the rebuff they may receive," he said, as reported by Reuters from the state news agency RIA on June 3.

Ryabkov was commenting on President Joe Biden's decision last week to approve the use of US-supplied weapons to attack targets inside Russia involved in an attack on the Kharkiv region of Ukraine.

Ryabkov also referred to comments by President Vladimir Putin last week that NATO countries were playing with fire and risking a deeper global conflict, one of a series of warnings from Moscow about the risk of serious escalation.

"I urge these figures (in the US) to take some of their time, which they apparently spend on some kind of video game, judging by their lighthearted approach, to study what Putin said in detail," Ryabkov said.

President Putin has issued a "very important warning and it must be taken very seriously", he added.

Russian news agencies quoted Mr Ryabkov as saying that Kyiv's attempts to attack Russia's early warning radar systems would be thwarted and Moscow would likely respond asymmetrically to such moves.

A Kyiv intelligence source said last week that Ukrainian drones had targeted long-range radars deep inside Russia, part of Russia's early warning system to detect whether the country is under nuclear attack.

The Kremlin leader has previously said the West would be directly involved in any use of its weapons by Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia, as such an attack would require its satellites, intelligence, and military assistance.

It is known that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last week that the military alliance had the right to help Ukraine enforce its own right to self-defense, calling it not making NATO a party to the conflict.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said over the weekend that Kyiv was grateful to Washington for allowing it to use the US-supplied HIMARS rocket system in the Kharkiv region, but this was not enough.

Ukraine itself has long argued that restrictions on the use of Western-supplied weapons seriously limit its ability to defend itself.