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Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (April 19)
Photo: RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY PRESS SERVICE/HANDOUT/EPA
The government in Moscow has threatened the West and Britain in particular.
"The Russian army is on 24-hour stand-by to launch retaliatory strikes on decision-making centers in Kyiv with long-range, high-precision weapons," the Defense Ministry said.
With such measures, it would not necessarily be a problem for Russia if representatives of certain Western countries were present at these decision-making centers, the ministry said.
The threats come in response to statements by the Secretary of State for Defense James Heappey.
The Conservative politician had told Times Radio that he did not see any problem with the use of British arms by Ukrainian forces against Russian territory.
If Great Britain directly encourages the leadership in Kyiv to take such measures and the measures are implemented, this will immediately lead to "a proportionate response," the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Previously there had been reports of a major fire at a Russian oil depot near the Ukrainian border.
It is unclear whether the fire was caused by an attack by Ukrainian forces.
But the incident sparked speculation that weapons delivered to Ukraine by NATO countries could have been used on Russian territory.
It was "perfectly legitimate for Ukraine" to attack targets in Russia to disrupt Russian army logistics and prevent further bloodshed on its own territory, Heappey said.
If weapons delivered from Great Britain were used, it was “not necessarily a problem”.
After all, there are many countries that use imported weapons.
However, it is not the country in which they are produced that is held responsible, but the country from which they were fired.
Warnings by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that Western countries would pour fuel on the fire by supplying arms to Ukraine, Heappey rejected in an interview with BBC 4 radio.
It is not unlikely that thanks to the arms deliveries, Ukraine will be able to successfully repel the Russian invasion.
The danger of a nuclear conflict between Russia and NATO is "vanishingly small".
bbr/dpa/Reuters