SHANGHAI, May 31. /TASS /. Strikes on Russian territory with Western weapons, which have been supplied to Kiev, will make peace talks impossible and lead to a further escalation of the conflict, Zheng Runyu, an expert at the Center for Russian Studies at the East China Normal University in Shanghai, has told TASS.
"The current situation on the battlefield is favorable for Russia. In addition, there is actually a certain probability of a truce and peace talks," he said. However, if Western weapons are used for strikes on Russian territory, "they will undoubtedly make peace talks impossible."
"In this case, the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine will only escalate and neither side will be able to compromise," the expert believes.
According to Zheng, this situation would play into the West’s hands, for it is interested in prolonging and increasing the scale of hostilities.
"The West needs such a growing conflict. The West cannot accept the possibility of peace talks in a situation where Russia has military superiority," he emphasized.
At the same time, Zheng admitted that strikes on Russia with Western weapons would not fundamentally affect the situation on the battlefield, because Ukraine does not have enough troops to gain superiority.
"The use of Western weapons for strikes on Russian territory has a greater propaganda value," he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on May 28 that NATO countries’ officials, whenever they speculate about strikes on Russia, "ought to be aware of what they are playing with." Russia, he said, is closely following the discussion on this issue. In case the Ukrainian military uses long-range weapons, Moscow will again have to decide on a buffer zone, Putin said.
The Russian Security Council’s Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel on May 31 that Moscow assumes that all the long-range weapons supplied in Ukraine are "directly operated by servicemen from NATO countries", which is tantamount to participation in the war against Russia and is a reason to start combat operations.