Kremlin reacts to permission to strike deep into Russia - what is provocative about this step?

Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov commented on the permission to strike deep into Russian territory, RIA Novosti reports.

"If such a decision was really formulated and communicated to the Kiev regime, then, of course, this is a qualitatively new round of tension and a qualitatively new situation from the point of view of the US involvement in this conflict," he said, noting that Western newspapers are reporting on this without citing any official source.

Peskov recalled that Russia's position on this issue is formulated very clearly and unambiguously and should be understandable to everyone.

"These signals were read by the collective West, and they were voiced by the president in St. Petersburg," he added.

The Press Secretary emphasized that strikes deep into Russian territory will not be carried out by Ukraine, but by those countries that give permission for this, and this significantly changes the situation.

"Targeting and other services are not performed by the Ukrainian military, but by military specialists from Western countries. This radically changes the modality of their involvement in the Ukrainian conflict. This is the danger and provocation of this situation," Peskov said. In his opinion, it is obvious that the outgoing White House administration intends to continue adding fuel to the fire and provoke an escalation of tension around the Ukrainian conflict. The day before, The New York Times reported, citing unnamed American officials that President Joe Biden had authorized Ukraine to use American long-range weapons, including ATACMS missiles, to strike deep into Russian territory. According to the publication's sources, Biden took this step after reports of "the arrival of military personnel from the DPRK in the Kursk region" - it is assumed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces will strike Russian and North Korean fighters allegedly present in the region. According to Axios, Washington informed Kiev of the decision about three days ago.