Moscow, August 28, 2024, The Europe Today: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused Ukraine of attempting to blackmail the West by demanding permission to strike deep into Russian territory with long-range Storm Shadow missiles. Lavrov made these comments during a press conference on Tuesday, responding to reports that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has intensified his appeals to Western allies to lift restrictions on the use of Western weapons against Russia.
“This is blackmail, it is an attempt to create an impression that the West wants to avoid excessive escalation, but in fact, this is a ruse,” Lavrov stated. He further asserted, “The West does not want to avoid escalation. The West is asking for trouble, to put it bluntly. I reckon that this is already obvious to everyone.”
Lavrov issued a stark warning that expanding authorization for the use of such weapons could lead the West down a dangerous path. “For a long time, we have been hearing these speculations about allowing the use of not only Storm Shadow, but also US long-range missiles… We will repeat that playing with fire – and they are like children playing with matches – is a very dangerous thing to do for grown-ups who are entrusted with nuclear weapons in one or another Western country,” Lavrov added.
Ukraine has reportedly been lobbying for months to deploy Storm Shadow missiles against targets within Russia. According to a report by The Guardian, a senior Ukrainian official suggested that such attacks would demonstrate to Russia that Ukraine has the capability to threaten key cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg, potentially forcing Russia to consider negotiations.
Storm Shadow missiles, developed through an Anglo-French collaboration and manufactured by the European joint venture MBDA, include components supplied by the United States, meaning that the Biden administration must approve their use inside Russia. To date, the White House has not granted such authorization.
President Zelensky has previously urged the West not to fear potential escalation from Moscow, citing Ukraine’s recent incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region as evidence that Moscow has no “red lines.” The assault, which began on August 6, marks the largest incursion on Russian territory since the onset of hostilities between Moscow and Kiev in 2022. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, over 6,600 Ukrainian troops have been killed, and approximately 800 pieces of military hardware have been destroyed during the operation.
Russia has accused Ukraine of using Western-supplied weapons in the attack on the Kursk Region, allegations that have been echoed in some Western media reports. Lavrov recently claimed, “Zelensky would never have decided [to attack Russian territory] if the United States had not instructed him to do this.”
