Newsweek
The Kremlin has issued a stark statement about the U.S. as relations with Washington hit a new low over Ukraine’s use of American-supplied weapons on Russian territory.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, called the United States ‘an enemy’ reportedly for the first time during a press briefing on Tuesday.
Agentstvo, an independent Russian investigative site, said that neither Peskov nor the Russian president has ever called the U.S. or other countries the Kremlin considers to be ‘unfriendly’ an enemy of Russia.
‘We are now an enemy country for them, just as they are for us,’ Peskov told reporters when commenting on claims made by former American intelligence officer Scott Ritter that he was barred from traveling to Russia and had his passport confiscated by border officials.
Ritter, a former United Nations Special Commission weapons inspector and U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer, told Russian state-run news agency Tass on Tuesday that he was removed from a flight from New York to Istanbul. He said he planned to travel to Russia to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
He claimed authorities offered no explanation for preventing him from traveling, but that they said they were following instructions from the U.S. State Department.
‘There are situations where a U.S. passport may be revoked. These include, but are not limited to, laws and regulations affecting passport usage by individuals with active warrants or criminal records, fraud concerns, tax debt, and child support arrears,’ the spokesperson added.
Ritter has regularly contributed to Russian state media and often mirrors Kremlin talking points on Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Preventing Ritter from traveling to Russia marked ‘the latest manifestation of the rabid campaign to prevent U.S. citizens from interacting with the Russian Federation,’ which would only be ‘understandable’ if it was linked to his former intelligence status, Peskov said, Russian state media outlet RT reported.
The Kremlin’s shift in rhetoric comes after President Joe Biden granted Ukraine permission to use some American-supplied weapons to strike targets in Russia.
The Biden administration last week said it moved at ‘lightning speed’ to allow Ukraine to use some weapons to strike certain targets inside Russia. Kyiv may use the weapons in Russian territory bordering northeast Ukraine for the purpose of defending its Kharkiv region, but the use of long-range missiles such as ATACMS is still prohibited on Russian soil, a U.S. official told Newsweek.
Putin warned last week that NATO countries, ‘especially the ones based in Europe, particularly in small European countries, should be fully aware of what is at stake’ by permitting Ukraine to strike Russian territory with Western weapons.
‘They should keep in mind that theirs are small and densely populated countries, which is a factor to reckon with before they start talking about striking deep into Russian territory,’ he said. ‘This constant escalation can lead to serious consequences.’
‘It is another step toward a serious conflict in Europe, toward a global conflict,’ the Russian leader added.
On Monday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned the U.S. against ‘miscalculations that could have fatal consequences,’ Tass reported.
‘For some unknown reason, they underestimate the seriousness of the rebuff they may receive,’ Ryabkov said, noting that Putin has repeatedly addressed the matter.
Putin’s warnings are ‘very significant’ and ‘must be taken seriously, with the utmost seriousness,’ added Ryabkov.