Could Russia attack other NATO countries that supply weapons to Ukraine?

A senior British official said it is «completely legitimate» for Ukrainian forces to attack targets on Russian territory to «disrupt their logistics and supply chains». Does this statement mean that the Russia n military could take the same measures against NATO allies?

The logic of the British authorities themselves suggests that Moscow has the right to carry out attacks against the territory of countries that supply Ukraine with weapons, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Tuesday.

The Russia n spokeswoman commented on the statements of the Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for the United Kingdom Armed Forces, James Heappey, who stated that same day that it is «completely legitimate» for the Ukrainian forces to attack targets on Russian territory to «interrupt their logistics and supply chains”, reports RTRussia.

“I think it is certainly the case that the things [weapons] that the international community currently supplies to Ukraine have the range to be used beyond its borders. But it is not necessarily a problem“, said the British minister.

«Do we understand correctly that in order to ‘disrupt the logistics of military supplies’, Russia can carry out strikes against the territory of NATO countries that supply weapons to the kyiv regime?» , wrote Zakharova on her Telegram account. “Because all this directly leads to deaths and bloodshed on the territory of Ukraine. As I understand it, the UK is one of these countries», she recalled.

Russia will respond

For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense declared that «the direct instigation by London of the kyiv regime» to attack targets on Russian territory would immediately mean «a proportional response» from Moscow, if Ukraine tries to carry them out. .

“As we have warned before, the Armed Forces of Russia remain on alert day and night to carry out response attacks with long-range precision weapons against the corresponding decision-making centers in kyiv“, stressed the Defense Ministry.

«The presence of the advisers of one of the Western countries in the Ukrainian command centers in kyiv, ‘will not necessarily be a problem’ for Russia when making the decision on reciprocal actions», she added.

What does the Russia n foreign minister say?

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov explained in an interview broadcasted on Monday on the Russian television channel Pervy Kanal, the reasons why the current crisis in US-Russian relations may be as dangerous as the Cuban missiles crisis in 1962.

Thus, the foreign minister recalled that already during the Donald Trump administration, Russia proposed to reaffirm the declaration of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and former US president Ronald Reagan that there would be no winners in a nuclear war and a conflict with the use of such weapons, should never be unleashed. “An agreement was quickly reached with the Biden Administration. In June 2021, during the summit in Geneva, our presidents made a (joint) statement», said Lavrov.

Russia took another step in this regard and in January of this year the five permanent members of the UN Security Council ratified the unacceptability of nuclear war, as such. “This is our fundamental position. It is our principled position. The risks are very important at this time. I would not like them to be artificially inflated. There are many who would. The risk is serious, real. It should not be underestimated», he pointed out.

Arms control

«There weren’t many ‘written’ rules during the Caribbean crisis. But the rules of conduct were clear enough. Moscow understood how Washington behaved. Washington understood how Moscow behaved», Lavrov stressed, indicating that there are currently «few rules» left as well.

Specifically, the head of Russian diplomacy mentioned the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START III) which today «is the only instrument of arms control». Meanwhile, agreements between the Kremlin and the White House such as the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty were dismantled. 

The US also rejects Russia’s proposals to initiate a mutual moratorium, despite the fact that Moscow advocated agreeing on the verification mechanisms. According to Lavrov, Washington believes that the Iskander tactical missile systems, deployed in the Kaliningrad region, do not meet the parameters indicated in the INF.

“On the basis of reciprocity, they were invited to come to Kaliningrad and we were invited to visit the American missile defense bases in Poland and Romania. A fair offer. They continue to reject it», remarked the Russian foreign minister.

The future of START III – extended for five years shortly after the arrival of Biden to the presidency – was examined by the delegations of both nations. Lavrov stressed that two rounds of dialogue in July and September 2021 were “useful”, since they made it possible to discover the “serious discrepancies”. In addition, it was agreed to create two ‘work groups’ that should define the object of the treaty and the threats to be addressed in the following negotiations.

However, Washington refused to continue almost the entire negotiating process after the start of Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine, initiated to «come out in defense of the Russians», according to the minister. «They were bombed for eight years without any reaction from the West, which only encouraged the Russophobic and neo-Nazi actions of the kyiv regime. There [in Ukraine], the Russian [language] was prohibited by law everywhere (in education, the media, everyday life) and neo-Nazi theories and practices were encouraged», he stressed.

The negotiations in Istanbul

Referring to the negotiations with Ukraine to end the current conflict, Lavrov stressed that Kyiv «moved away from the concept» elaborated during the round of dialogue held in Istanbul (Turkey). Moscow was willing to «conceptually» accept what was discussed in that meeting: the neutral status of Ukraine, the security guarantees, their volumes and the way in which they are provided.

«The Istanbul document said that there would be no foreign military bases in Ukraine, no exercises with foreign military forces, except with the consent of all the guarantor countries of this treaty, including Russia. It was explicitly written», said the minister.

After initially receiving a positive reaction from Russia, the Ukrainian side provided another version. There, it was mentioned that the military exercises would not be carried out except with the consent of the majority of the guarantors. «Is there a difference? Obviously. This is what they did in other proposals they made in Istanbul. Once again, these proposals were generally received positively», he assured.

Regarding the possibility of reaching an agreement with Ukraine, the minister stressed that Moscow is continuing the dialogue with the delegation formed by Zelensky, despite the fact that many in Russia are convinced that Kyiv’s position is formulated in the West. “Good will has its limits. If it is not reciprocal, it does not help the negotiation process», he concluded.

The conflict in Ukraine and the role of the West

Speaking about the role of the West in the conflict in Ukraine, Lavrov criticized its persistence in sending weapons to Kyiv. “Everyone casts a spell so that a third world war does not take place under any circumstances. It is in this context that the constant provocations of the Ukrainian president [Vladimir] Zelensky and his team must be seen», he said.

“They almost demand the introduction of NATO troops to defend the Ukrainian government. But everyone always says that they will give arms to Kyiv. This also ‘adds fuel to the fire’. They want to force the Ukrainians to fight Russia to the last soldier, if only to make this conflict last longer, so that Russia — they hope — will suffer more and more for it», he stressed.

Along these same lines, the Russian foreign minister declared that while almost all the leaders of the Atlantic Alliance have affirmed that their troops will not participate in the conflict, Poland promotes the idea of carrying out «a peacekeeping operation» in Ukraine, pointing out that the European country is «clearly interested in sending its troops there under peacekeeping flags». «Next, we can imagine how the historical reminiscence of the Poles who are in their former territory, that is, western Ukraine, will manifest itself», he added.

Comparing the current situation with what happened in 1962, Lavrov reiterated that back then there was «a channel of communication» in which both leaders had confidence. “Now, that channel does not exist. No one tries to create one. The occasional timid attempts made in the first phase did not give much results», he lamented.

In this regard, he recalled that Moscow had spent years trying to get NATO to address its security concerns, but the bloc had been expanding, filling Ukraine with weapons and encouraging its anti-Russian course. In addition, Moscow warned of the inadmissibility of «dragging» Kyiv into the Alliance and proposed «as a last attempt or gesture of goodwill», to seal security agreements that would reflect the interests of all countries in the Euro-Atlantic region, including Ukraine. «Everyone realized that Ukraine was the ‘block of contention’ that uncovered a much more global problem and was the trigger for these processes», said Lavrov.

However, NATO insisted on the principle of open doors, although the entity’s statute provides that members can invite other countries by consensus if they meet the criteria and contribute to strengthening the Alliance’s security. «This is not about ‘open doors»,  stressed the Russian foreign minister. According to him, NATO expansion is «the exploitation of territories under US command, in line with the consolidation and the attempt to perpetuate that same unipolar world».