MOSCOW, November 18. /TASS/. Russia assumes that the decision to launch ATACMS missiles deep into Russia means a qualitatively new round of escalation of tensions, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"If such a decision has indeed been formulated and communicated to the Kiev regime, then, of course, this is a qualitatively new round of escalation of tensions and a qualitatively new situation in terms of the involvement of the United States in this conflict," Peskov said.

"We are proceeding from this," he emphasized.

Moscow's position should be absolutely clear to everyone, the spokesman pointed out. "These signals have been received by the collective West. And they were voiced by the president in St. Petersburg," Peskov recalled.

On September 12, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out that a potential decision to use Western long-range weapons against Russia would mean nothing less than the direct involvement of the United States and other NATO countries in the war in Ukraine. This would drastically alter the nature of this conflict, and Russia would be forced to take appropriate measures in response to the escalating threats, the Russian president warned. Putin emphasized that Ukraine would not be able to strike deep into Russian territory without Western support, as it would require satellite intelligence and flight missions to do so.

On November 17, The New York Times reported, citing sources, that Biden had authorized strikes from Ukrainian territory deep into Russia using ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles. In turn, Le Figaro sources claimed that France and the UK had authorized strikes with SCALP and Storm Shadow tactical missiles. The article was later retracted from the newspaper's website without explanation. There has been no official confirmation of this information from Washington, Paris, or London.