Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov has warned the United States not to joke about Russia’s “red lines”, while responding to a question about the potential delivery of long-range U.S. missiles to Ukraine
Lavrov said the U.S. was losing sight of the sense of mutual deterrence that had underpinned the balance of security between Moscow and Washington since the Cold War, and that this was dangerous.
He was commenting on a report that the U.S. is close to an agreement to supply Ukraine with long-range JASSM cruise missiles that could reach deep inside Russia – for which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been lobbying.
“I won’t be surprised by anything – the Americans have already crossed the threshold they set for themselves. They are being egged on, and Zelenskiy of course sees this and takes advantage of it,” Lavrov told a Russian TV interviewer.
“But they should understand – they are joking about our red lines here. They shouldn’t joke about our red lines.”
President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned the West since launching what he called his “special military operation” in Ukraine in 2022 not to try to thwart Russia, which has the world’s biggest arsenal of nuclear weapons.
But Washington and its allies have increased military aid to Ukraine, including by providing tanks, advanced missiles and F-16 fighter jets.
This has prompted some Western politicians to suggest Putin’s nuclear rhetoric is a bluff and that the U.S. and NATO should go all-out to help Ukraine win the war. Zelenskiy has said Ukraine’s incursion into Russia, launched on Aug. 6, makes a mockery of Putin’s red lines.
