A Russian senator has proposed that Russia carry out missile strikes on U.S. military bases located in Europe in response to the decision by the United States to go ahead and send longer-ranged rocket systems to Ukraine.
Senator Frants Klintsevich spoke on Russian state television that Russia should "wreck" U.S. bases in Europe with Russia's "high-precision long-range weapons" after the United States announced earlier this month that it would be sending Ukraine M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).
On June 2nd Senior Digital Journalist for BBC Monitoring posted a video clip of the statements by Klintsevich and said "Russian senator Frants Klintsevich says the prospect of Washington sending HIMARS to Ukraine means "it's time to wreck American bases in Europe" using Moscow's "high-precision long-range weapons".
In the video, Klintsevich, who was discussing the decision by the Biden administration to send the HIMARS rocket systems to Ukraine said that Ukraine's claim that it would only use the rocket systems for defense and not to strike Russian territory was "complete nonsense". The United States stipulated that they would hand over the longer-ranged missile systems if Ukraine agreed not to use them on targets located within Russian territory.
He said that it's "impossible to talk to the Americans and Ukrainians in these conditions" and said that Russia is speaking to the Weest from a "position of tolerance" while "giving signals when we say that line cannot be crossed".
"But unfortunately, they view our tolerance and integrity as weakness" Klintsevich stated. "And now, the places where the arms shipments are arriving, in particular in Europe, taking into consideration Russia's high precision long-range weaponry, it's about time we took steps to warn them".
Klintsevich also stated that Russia shot down American planes during the Korean War in the 1950s, possibly referring to Russian pilots flying aircraft with Chinese and North Korean symbols due to the fact that the United States and Russia were not at war during that time, according to a comment by Newsweek regarding the video.
"It happened in the Korean War, we shot down 1,270 American planes" Klintsevich stated.
He added that when Russia had shot down American pilots "the world didn't end" and said that "It's time to wreck American bases, for now, the ones in Europe" but added "Unfortunately, that's just my personal opinion. If we're not heard if it threatens our people on our territory".
Not only is the United States a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, but it also has a large number of bases located in Europe, and each of those bases is located within NATO member countries.
An attack on any of those bases would potentially trigger NATO's Article 5 clause, which states that an attack on one member of the alliance is seen as an attack on all members of the alliance.
Furthermore, back in March Russia had warned that anyone transporting weapons to Ukraine would be considered 'legitimate targets' for the Russian military.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had stated "We clearly said that any cargo moving into the Ukrainian territory which we would believe is carrying weapons would be fair game".
"This is clear because we are implementing the operation the goal of which is to remove any threat to the Russian Federation coming from the Ukrainian soil" he added.
Senator Frants Klintsevich spoke on Russian state television that Russia should "wreck" U.S. bases in Europe with Russia's "high-precision long-range weapons" after the United States announced earlier this month that it would be sending Ukraine M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).
On June 2nd Senior Digital Journalist for BBC Monitoring posted a video clip of the statements by Klintsevich and said "Russian senator Frants Klintsevich says the prospect of Washington sending HIMARS to Ukraine means "it's time to wreck American bases in Europe" using Moscow's "high-precision long-range weapons".
In the video, Klintsevich, who was discussing the decision by the Biden administration to send the HIMARS rocket systems to Ukraine said that Ukraine's claim that it would only use the rocket systems for defense and not to strike Russian territory was "complete nonsense". The United States stipulated that they would hand over the longer-ranged missile systems if Ukraine agreed not to use them on targets located within Russian territory.
He said that it's "impossible to talk to the Americans and Ukrainians in these conditions" and said that Russia is speaking to the Weest from a "position of tolerance" while "giving signals when we say that line cannot be crossed".
"But unfortunately, they view our tolerance and integrity as weakness" Klintsevich stated. "And now, the places where the arms shipments are arriving, in particular in Europe, taking into consideration Russia's high precision long-range weaponry, it's about time we took steps to warn them".
Klintsevich also stated that Russia shot down American planes during the Korean War in the 1950s, possibly referring to Russian pilots flying aircraft with Chinese and North Korean symbols due to the fact that the United States and Russia were not at war during that time, according to a comment by Newsweek regarding the video.
"It happened in the Korean War, we shot down 1,270 American planes" Klintsevich stated.
He added that when Russia had shot down American pilots "the world didn't end" and said that "It's time to wreck American bases, for now, the ones in Europe" but added "Unfortunately, that's just my personal opinion. If we're not heard if it threatens our people on our territory".
Not only is the United States a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, but it also has a large number of bases located in Europe, and each of those bases is located within NATO member countries.
An attack on any of those bases would potentially trigger NATO's Article 5 clause, which states that an attack on one member of the alliance is seen as an attack on all members of the alliance.
Furthermore, back in March Russia had warned that anyone transporting weapons to Ukraine would be considered 'legitimate targets' for the Russian military.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had stated "We clearly said that any cargo moving into the Ukrainian territory which we would believe is carrying weapons would be fair game".
"This is clear because we are implementing the operation the goal of which is to remove any threat to the Russian Federation coming from the Ukrainian soil" he added.
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