Western countries are moving to escalate? Russia will take all the necessary measures in order to neutralize Western threats!

Photo: TASS

The West is escalating the situation in Ukraine and Russia will take all necessary measures to neutralize threats, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko (photo) told TASS.

"We are aware that Western countries are moving to escalate. Therefore, all measures that are necessary on our part will be taken in order to neutralize threats associated with this escalation," the senior Russian diplomat said, commenting on speculation that Kiev is planning to use the Patriot missile system over Russia.

"No matter what is supplied to [the battlefield], beginning from ground-based weapons, all this is being ground down by our fighters. The same will happen this time again," Grushko said when asked to comment on a recent remark by Major General Christian Freuding, the head of the Situation Centre Ukraine at the German Defense Ministry, who did not rule out using Patriot systems against aerial targets in Russian skies.

Commenting on a statement by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that a number of countries had never imposed restrictions on the use of Western weapons being supplied to Kiev, Grushko said: "They have been escalating tensions. They have a strategy, and they have been following this path."

Photo: TASS

NATO countries that have approved strikes with their weapons on Russian territory should be aware that their equipment and specialists will be destroyed not only in Ukraine, but also at any point from where Russian territory is attacked, the Russian Security Council’s Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev (photo) said on his Telegram channel, noting that the participation of NATO specialists could be seen as a casus belli.

"All their military equipment and specialists fighting against us will be destroyed both on the territory of former Ukraine and on the territory of other countries, should strikes be carried out from there against Russian territory," Medvedev warned.

He added that Moscow proceeded from the fact that all long-range weapons supplied to Ukraine were already "directly operated by servicemen from NATO countries", which is tantamount to participation in the war against Russia and a reason to start combat operations.

Therefore, said Medvedev, NATO would need to legally qualify the destruction of its equipment, facilities and servicemen in case of "possible retaliatory strikes <...> in the context of articles 4 and 5 of the Washington Treaty".

Articles 4 and 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which created the alliance, list NATO countries’ actions in case any of them is threatened, as well as the rules of the bloc’s collective defense. According to these provisions, a threat to one NATO country is perceived as an attack on all members of the alliance. At the same time, the document does not specify what exactly NATO may regard as an attack or threat, so it establishes a consultation mechanism for deciding on a response.

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