NEW YORK, December 5. /TASS/. Russia will respond to any provocations from the outgoing US administration, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov warned in an interview with CNN.
"My appeal and my message to people in the outgoing administration is a very clear one: We will respond if they provoke. We will find our way forward, how to assert our strong will and our interests," he said. "I’m not threatening here anyone."
The diplomat said there is a lack of common sense in the West, in particular the US, where politicians underestimate Russia’s resolve to defend its core national security interests. That could require Moscow to resort to using more powerful military capabilities in the future, he warned.
"There will come a moment when we will see no other choice but to resort to even stronger military means," the deputy minister said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on November 21 that the US and its NATO allies had announced authorizing the use of longer-range weapons. Following the announcement, US and UK missiles attacked Russian targets in the Kursk and Bryansk regions, according to the president.
Russia responded by firing its newest Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile with a non-nuclear warhead at a Yuzhmash Ukrainian defense industry plant in the city of Dnepr, Putin said. The Russian president said the West could bring upon itself heavy consequences, should its inflammatory policies prompt further escalation of the conflict.