Kremlin assessed possible U.S. authorization for strikes deep inside Russia

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on November 18 that the US authorization to launch strikes deep inside Russian Federation would be a new round of tension.

"If such a decision (to allow Ukraine to carry out strikes deep inside Russia) has indeed been formulated and communicated to the Kiev regime, then, of course, this is a qualitatively new round of tension," he said at a briefing.

Peskov noted that the authorization to carry out strikes on Russian territories with American weapons would mean a "qualitatively new situation" in terms of the United States' involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.

In addition, the Kremlin spokesman emphasized that it was the countries that gave permission, not Ukraine itself, that carried out the strikes. According to him, the actions of Western countries change the level of involvement in the conflict. He noted that this is the "danger and provocativeness of the situation".

He also recalled that earlier Russian President Vladimir Putin had already expressed his position on possible strikes deep inside the country.

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Earlier, on November 17, The New York Times reported that Biden had authorized Ukraine to use US long-range missiles to strike Russia. The Le Figaro newspaper said that the French and British authorities had made the same decision, but then removed this information from the article. EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrel said afterwards that on November 18-19 the issue of lifting restrictions on strikes deep into Russia with European weapons would be discussed.

Later, US Deputy National Security Advisor to the President John Feiner said that the White House did not confirm Ukraine's authorization to strike Russian territories with ATACMS missiles.

Back in September, Putin emphasized that facilitating Ukraine's use of weapons to strike deep into Russia would be perceived as direct involvement of Western countries in the conflict. The possibility of lifting the restrictions was one of the topics of talks between current US President Joe Biden and Zelensky later that month, but the Pentagon later confirmed that the ban was still in place due to the risk of escalation.

Western countries have stepped up military and financial support for Ukraine amid Russia's special operation to defend Donbass, which began on February 24, 2022. The decision to conduct it was taken by the Russian president because of the aggravation of the situation in the region due to the increased shelling by Ukrainian troops.