MOSCOW, January 25. /TASS/. Should NATO provide Ukraine with weapons for strikes deep inside Russia, it will receive a harsh response, Konstantin Gavrilov, head of the Russian delegation to the Vienna Negotiations on Military Security and Arms Control, said on Wednesday at a meeting of the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation, according to his statement posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website.

"We are closely monitoring the information coming from the US presidential administration that Washington plans to help Ukraine work out a new stage in its army’s counteroffensive, which will target the Crimean Peninsula. According to The New York Times, American commanders are already drawing up plans for an assault and matching them with the weapons which Ukraine possesses and which its allies are expected to provide. Should Washington and NATO countries supply Kiev with the weapons for strikes deep into Russia targeting peaceful cities and towns and attempt to seize our constitutionally-enshrined territories, it will force Moscow to take harsh retaliatory measures. Do not say later that we did not warn you," Gavrilov said.

Additionally, the head of the Russian delegation pointed out that bringing air-defense systems and heavy tanks to Ukraine will merely pile up problems for Ukraine and Europe.