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Military operation in Ukraine

Lavrov cautions West against discussions of allowing Kiev to strike deep into Russia

At a meeting in Kiev on September 11, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky did not make any decisions regarding the authorization for Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia with US-supplied weapons

© Sergey Karpukhin/TASS

MOSCOW, October 7. /TASS/. Discussing allowing Ukraine to use Western-provided weapons for strikes deep inside Russia is like playing with fire which may have dangerous consequences, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Newsweek.

"They are discussing authorizing the AFU [Armed Forces of Ukraine] to use Western long-range missiles to strike deep into Russian territory. 'Playing with fire' in this way may lead to dangerous consequences," Russia’s top diplomat said. "As stated by [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin, we will take adequate decisions based on our understanding of the threats posed by the West. It is up to you to make conclusions," Lavrov emphasized.

At a meeting in Kiev on September 11, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky did not make any decisions regarding the authorization for Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia with US-supplied weapons. A source told ABC News that during a lengthy meeting Zelensky presented "a detailed plan" of how Kiev could use long-range missiles for strikes into Russian territory to Blinken and gave him a list of possible targets.

On September 12, Lavrov said the decision to allow Ukraine to use long-range weapons for strikes inside Russia was made long ago, and now the West is working its PR magic to present it to the public. Earlier last month, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said if the West decides to send longer-range weapons to Kiev a potential buffer zone could reach Poland.

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