NATO Cheif Warns Ukraine Conflict Could Become a Direct War Between NATO and Russia
Dave DeCamp / AntiWar.com
(December 19, 2022) — Russia’s Foreign Ministry warned on Monday that Washington’s policies have brought the US and Russia to the brink of a “direct clash.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova made the comments in response to a statement from State Department spokesman Ned Price, who said last week that Russia was to “blame” for the deterioration of US-Russia relations.
Zakharova said that the US was at fault due to its goal of maintaining “American hegemony” while ignoring Russia’s security concerns. “This is a dangerous and short-sighted policy that puts the US and Russia on the verge of a direct clash,” she said.
Zakharova said that Russia was interested in reducing tensions with the US and called on the Biden administration to avoid escalation. “For its part, Moscow urges the Joe Biden administration to soberly assess the situation and not to unleash a spiral of dangerous escalation. We hope that they will hear us in Washington, though there is no reason for optimism so far,” she said.
Throughout the war, Russian officials have made clear that they believe they are not just fighting Ukrainian forces in Ukraine but also the US and NATO. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently said that the US and NATO are “directly participating” in the war by providing weapons and training Ukrainian soldiers.
The US and NATO continue to escalate their role in the war, with the US planning to give Ukraine new weapons and increase the training of Ukrainian forces in Germany. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg acknowledged earlier this month that the current policy could lead to full-blown war with Russia but said the alliance must continue supporting Ukraine despite the risk.
“I fear that the war in Ukraine will get out of control, and spread into a major war between NATO and Russia,” Stoltenberg said. “If things go wrong, they can go horribly wrong.”
Russian Military Says US-Made Missiles Have Been Shot Down Over Western Russia
The Russian Defense Ministry says four
AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles
were intercepted over Belgorod
(December 19, 2022) — The Russian Defense Ministry on Monday said that four US-made AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles were intercepted over Belgorod, an oblast in western Russia that borders Ukraine.
The AGM-88 HARMs are air-to-surface missiles that are designed to home in on electronic signals emitted by radar systems. The Pentagon revealed in August that it began providing Ukraine with the AGM-88 HARMs and said they could be fired by Ukrainian aircraft.
“In the airspace of the Belgorod Region, four American HARM anti-radar missiles were shot down,” a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said, according to Russian’s TASS news agency.
Belgorod had come under attack throughout the war, including on Sunday, when the region’s governor said one person was killed and another eight were wounded by Ukrainian shelling.
This week’s attacks on Belgorod come after The Times reported that the Pentagon has given Ukraine its tacit endorsement of strikes on Russian territory, which risks a major escalation of the war. Publicly, Biden administration officials recently said that Ukraine could use US-provided weapons however they want.
The Times report said that the US was no longer concerned that Ukrainian attacks inside Russia could lead to a major escalation based only on the fact that Moscow hasn’t yet responded with nuclear weapons or attacks on NATO countries.
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