Russia ‘Very Negatively’ Views U.S. Supplying Ukraine with Advanced Rocket Systems

June 1, 2022 (EIRNS)—Top Russian government officials responded today to President Biden’s announcement that the U.S. would be supplying advanced rocket systems to Ukraine, with sharp rebukes and warnings. They were singularly unimpressed with “assurances” from both the U.S. and Ukraine governments that the new weapons won’t be used to attack inside Russian territory, viewing these as sugar-coating for a dangerously provocative escalation. They have no intention of being the frog that gets boiled as the temperature of the water is slowly raised—as the Establishment’s anti-Russia policy was recently stated frankly by Malcolm Chalmers, Deputy Director General of the Royal United Services Institute.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to Reuters: “We believe that the United States is purposefully and diligently adding fuel to the fire.” Asked how Russia would respond if the weapons were used to strike inside Russia (their range is 80 kms., or about 50 miles), Peskov said: “Let’s not talk about worst-case scenarios,” but stressed that Russia viewed the decision “extremely negatively.”

Asked if Russia believed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s assurances that the weapons will not be used to attack inside Russia, Peskov answered simply “No,” according to TASS. “In order to trust, there must be previous experience when such promises were fulfilled. Unfortunately, such experience is completely nonexistent. On the contrary, the entire history of events proves that, starting with Zelenskyy’s main campaign promise to end the war in Ukraine’s southeast once and for all, [the promise] was not fulfilled, and the Minsk Agreements were not implemented, they sank into oblivion, and by Ukraine’s fault at that. So, we don’t really have any trust credit for the Ukrainian side,” he declared. Peskov also emphasized the obvious: that sending such supplies would not encourage Ukraine’s leadership to go back to the negotiating table.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov responded:

“I would rather not comment on something, which is mostly secondary. The question is not about the range of any system or anybody’s intentions.... We are certainly picking up all of these signals, but we are linking them to what is going on in reality. In reality, Kyiv is still being flooded with uninterrupted and perpetual supplies of the newest weapons systems.”

He added that Washington’s efforts are aimed at “delaying the moment” when Russia achieves its stated objectives in Ukraine. “They [the set objectives] will eventually be reached, no matter what steps are taken on behalf of the United States, or their satellites and clients.” Asked about the prospect of a direct confrontation between the United States and Russia, Ryabkov was blunt: “Any arms shipments that continue, that are on the rise, increase the risks of such a development.”