Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a series of threats to Western nations over their involvement in the Ukrainian war, insisting they back off support for Kiev or risk becoming targets for Russian strikes as direct parties in the fighting.
“Any movement in this direction will be considered by us as participation in an armed conflict by that country,” Putin said after a number of American officials, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky himself, proposed a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
The no-fly zone is one of the few areas where US President Joe Biden agrees with his Russian counterpart, as the White House has repeatedly shot down the idea as a dangerous escalation.
“The president’s been very clear about one thing all along as well, which is we’re not going to put the United States in direct conflict with Russia – not have, you know, American planes flying against Russian planes or our soldiers on the ground in Ukraine,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told NBC’s Chuck Todd on Meet the Press Sunday.
During the same press event, Putin condemned the West’s economic war on Russia, saying the sanctions are “akin to a declaration of war, but thank God it has not come to that.” Imposed by the US and a long list of allies in recent days, the penalties are intended to inflict lasting, or even permanent, harm on Russia’s economy.
Though Washington and leaders across Europe have spoken of targeting Russian “elites,” “oligarchs” and senior officials, the economy-wrecking sanctions are sure to leave average citizens reeling for years to come. The West, too, will likely face blowback from its own actions, burying Europe’s top energy exporter in crippling penalties.
Further, the Russian Defense Ministry has warned the NATO alliance about allowing Ukrainian warplanes to use its air bases, again suggesting such actions could make the bloc an active belligerent in the war.
“Please note that the use of the airfield network of these countries for the deployment of Ukrainian military aviation with subsequent use against the Russian armed forces can be regarded as the involvement of these states in an armed conflict,” it said in a statement, after Russian officials suggested Kiev’s planes had been permitted to land in bordering countries.
The latest MoD warning follows a decision in Moscow to place its nuclear deterrence forces on high alert, citing “aggressive statements” from NATO members since Russia launched an attack on Ukraine last week – brinkmanship not seen since the days of the Cold War.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that the administration is now working with Poland to deliver warplanes to Ukraine, despite prior denials from Warsaw that any such plans were in the works. While Washington and its allies have presented all “lethal aid” to Kiev as purely defensive amid an “unprovoked” Russian invasion, Moscow is sure to see the ongoing arms deliveries and other retaliatory measures as nothing short of acts of war, possibly putting the world’s largest nuclear powers on the path toward direct conflict.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com and news editor of the Libertarian Institute. Will Porter is the assistant news editor of the Libertarian Institute and a staff writer at RT. Kyle and Will host Conflicts of Interest along with Connor Freeman. Reprinted from The Libertarian Institute.
US is desperate for a war we all know that but that is not what the Russians have been saying about this topic and they said the same about a NFZ in Syria, namely that not only the plane will be shot down but also the runway in the aggressor country from which it took off.
In other words any country, presumely a NATO country, stupid enough to carry out Blinkens hint/ order will find itself at war with Russia and eventually Nato too and that’ll be the end of Europe and the US because another thing Russia has insisted since WW2 is “never again”, I.e next war and there have been several all won by Russia, will not be fought in Russia.
Russia has dialed in the targets, as we have. Biden is heading us in that direction. I voted for him and he is a failure.
Russia has said that “the next war will NOT be on Russian soil” The US cannot hope to escape destruction even though it’s infrastructure is old and falling apart except for the arms factories.
Fortunately or otherwise, I’ll be dealing with more pressing matters these next two weeks than reading about US-induced geostrategic chaos.
TM:
Hope all is well and will be well for you! best-donna
Hope all is well.
Chaos is overwhelming the Matrix
It has now many cracks. It is actually interesting to see its veneer fade, and the (real)world’s reaction,
Direct conflict between NATO and Russian forces is war with Russia.
This includes letting Ukraine use military facilities outside Ukraine, including if not especially airfields. That’s still a salami strategy cut too far.
Harassment of Russia leading up to Biden’s war cut the grey zone so close to the edge of legal, so stealthily, too many people have forgotten where the real lines are.
Well said B.A.T.
Didn’t invading Ukraine START a war?
If you were born two weeks ago.
who fired the first shot? Who crossed into’s whose country?
It’s not who fired the first shot, it’s who provoked the first shot to be fired. That’s where the greater sin is.
who was a threat to whom?
NATO was an existential threat to Russia; Zel bragging about getting nukes back was a threat to Russia; British destroyers patrolling the Black Sea last year was a threat to Russia, our (NATO) flying within 13 miles of the Russian border last year was a threat to Russia; half the Ukrainian army (around 150,000 troops) assembled on the Contact Line last June (2021) was a threat to Russia; the refusal to have serious implementation of agreements (Minsk) and written assurances on Russia’s reasonable security concerns was a threat to Russia; the fact that the US abrogate three arms agreements was a threat to Russia….The big bully on the block thought it could control the sandbox forever and Putin got fed up kicked him in the face.
tell me. Do you really think NATO was going to invade Russia?
Ukraine was threat to Russia with the U.S. Nato bringing in $Billions in war materiel, possibly nukes.
You are too high maintenance, Learn more before participating.
Ukraine shooting at border populatiom for eight years. Over 10,000 dead Russians. Not enough kilked for your taste?
U.S./U.K. aren’t stupid enough to start a global war over Ukraine, are they?
It looks now like a game of serious chicken, locked in a steel cage death match, escalating to see which one loses his nerve or …?
The tension is very very high, …something could give at any moment.
There are no facts available the Propaganda is so thick. Russia shelling Humanitarian Corridors for example is nonsensical. The threat of a larger scale war however dos seem possible however it would not likely be a larger ground war.
Will he let them fight a proxy war in Ukraine, from safe havens all around the border of Ukraine?
Russia says no, and the US wants to do again what it does to Syria from Turkey and Jordan.
We’ll see. It is a big point, defining the longer haul for this war, after the developing defeat of Ukraine in the ground war.
“Though Washington and leaders across Europe have spoken of targeting Russian “elites,” “oligarchs” and senior officials, the economy-wrecking sanctions are sure to leave average citizens reeling for years to come.”
Well, I’m sure the US and European leaders really don’t give two shits about the Russian people. They’re trying really hard to pretend to give two shits about the Ukrainian people. But one must look back at the wars the US waged since 9/11 and see the consistency of the world’s reaction to illegal invasions. I’m sure Americans remember not being able to use their credit cards just because their government destroyed Iraq’s infrastructure based on fantastical lies. No?
The US and European leaders don’t give two shits about anything except whatever keeps them in power. The well-being of their own citizens be damned.
No sh-t WRU! I completely concur. !!!
I am not willing to get my a– nuked for any of this sh-t!
“Two tears in a bucket, mother “F”-it!”
Poland has refused the current discussion to send Polish plans to Ukraine for replacement by the US, according to sources. This plan was never going to work in the first place. It was just another “Hail, Mary” by Blinken (and Borrell in the EU).
So is the idiot plan to send mercenaries into Ukraine or host a Ukraine “government in exile” and start an insurgency. None of this is going to happen and if they try, none of it is going to succeed.
I don’t trust these on and off reports in the least. It is to scramble the pieces of those astute enough to connect the dots. This is all to throw people off the scent of their trail. I would not be surprised in the least if American troops were already in the Baltics and in Poland or at the nuclear reconfiguration of current missile systems in Eastern Europe
I wouldn’t be surprised either. However, Poland must know they’re risking real trouble with Russia. Not to mention handing over their jets in exchange for some jets in 2024 is not something one wants to do when risking the said real trouble with Russia. Poland will get cold feet, I’m fairly sure.