Kremlin says Biden missile decision on Ukraine is reckless

By Guy Faulconbridge and Dmitry Antonov

MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin said on Monday that Russia would respond to what it called a reckless decision by Joe Biden's administration to allow Ukraine to fire American missiles deep into Russia, which it said would draw the United States directly into the conflict.

Russia has been warning the West for months about how it would interpret such a decision, saying it would raise the risk of a confrontation with the U.S.-led NATO alliance.

The New York Times and Reuters reported that Biden's administration had made the decision on long-range strikes, though there was no official confirmation from Washington.

"This decision is reckless, dangerous, aimed at a qualitative change, a qualitative increase in the level of involvement of the United States in this conflict," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

He said President Vladimir Putin had made Russia's position clear when speaking in St Petersburg in September.

Putin said on Sept. 12 that Western approval for such a step would mean "the direct involvement of NATO countries, the United States and European countries in the war in Ukraine" because NATO military infrastructure and personnel would have to be involved in the targeting and firing of the missiles.

"It is obvious that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to take steps to continue adding fuel to the fire and continue to provoke tension around this conflict," Peskov said.

Sources quoted by the New York Times and Reuters presented the U.S. move as partly in response to the reported arrival of North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk region to help repel a Ukrainian incursion.

U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said Russia had escalated the conflict with "the deployment of a foreign country's forces on its own territory". Russian officials say they can deploy whatever forces they want within Russia.

RUSSIA'S NUCLEAR DOCTRINE CHANGED

One Russian official close to the Kremlin who spoke on condition of anonymity said the U.S. move, if confirmed, was an extremely provocative one for an outgoing administration but would not change the outcome of the war.

Ukraine controls about 650 sq km (250 sq miles) of territory in Kursk, while Russia, which is advancing faster than at any time since the start of the war, controls more than 110,500 sq km of Ukraine, according to open source maps.

Some Russians criticised the U.S. move.

"We should hit back," said Alexander, a 71-year-old who asked for his name not to be used. "The centres that control these missiles and the American bases around NATO should also be hit."

Ukraine's seizure of a piece of the Kursk region this year marked the first time U.S. weapons had been used on internationally recognised sovereign Russian soil since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in early 2022.

"Biden's administration is trying to escalate the situation to the maximum while they still have power and are still in office," Russian lawmaker Maria Butina told Reuters.

"I have a great hope that (Donald) Trump will overcome this decision if this has been made because they are seriously risking the start of World War Three, which is not in anybody's interest."

Russian officials have repeatedly cautioned that the West is playing with fire by probing the limits of what a nuclear power might or might not tolerate.

Putin has changed Russia's nuclear doctrine to say that any conventional attack on Russia aided by a nuclear power could be considered to be a joint attack on Russia.

In late October, Putin said his defence ministry was working on different ways to respond if the United States and its NATO allies helped Ukraine to strike deep into Russia with long-range Western missiles.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Dmitry Antonov in Moscow; and Jarrett Renshaw in Rio De Janeiro; Editing by Lidia Kelly and Kevin Liffey)