MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said that if the United States supplied Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine for long-range strikes deep into Russia then it would lead to the destruction of Moscow’s relationship with Washington.
Less than two months since US President Donald Trump met Putin at a summit in Alaska, peace looks even further away with Russian forces advancing in Ukraine, Russian drones allegedly flying in NATO airspace and now Washington talking about direct participation in striking deep into the world’s biggest nuclear power.
Trump has said he is disappointed with Putin for not making peace and has cast Russia as a “paper tiger” for failing to subdue Ukraine. Putin last week hit back, questioning if NATO was not the “paper tiger” for failing to stop Russia’s advance.
US Vice President JD Vance said last month that Washington was considering a Ukrainian request to obtain long-range Tomahawks that could strike deep into Russia, including Moscow, though it is unclear if a final decision has been made.
“This will lead to the destruction of our relations, or at least the positive trends that have emerged in these relations,” Putin said in a video clip released on Sunday by Russian state television reporter Pavel Zarubin.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the United States will provide Ukraine with intelligence on long-range energy infrastructure targets in Russia, as it weighs whether to send Kyiv missiles that could be used in such strikes.
Two officials confirmed the Journal report to Reuters.
But one U.S. official and three other sources told Reuters that the Trump Administration’s desire to send long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine may not be viable because current inventories are committed to the U.S. Navy and other uses.
Tomahawk cruise missiles have a range of 2,500 kilometres (1,550 miles), which means that if Ukraine got the missiles then the Kremlin and all of European Russia would be within target.
Putin on Thursday said that it was impossible to use Tomahawks without the direct participation of U.S. military personnel and so any supply of such missiles to Ukraine would trigger a “qualitatively new stage of escalation”.
“This will mean a completely new, qualitatively new stage of escalation, including in relations between Russia and the United States,” Putin said.
He added that Tomahawks could harm Russia, but that it would simply shoot them down and improve its own air defence.
Putin portrays the Ukraine war as a watershed moment in Moscow’s relations with the West, which he says humiliated Russia after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union by enlarging NATO and encroaching on what he considers Moscow’s sphere of influence.
Western European leaders and Ukraine cast the war as an imperial-style land grab and have repeatedly vowed to defeat Russian forces.
They argue that unless Russia is defeated, Putin will risk an attack on a NATO member, a claim Putin has repeatedly denied.
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