Putin has tried and failed to draw red lines for the West before, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy who is urging the West to be less cautious when it comes to confronting Moscow to dismiss their importance.
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But Putin’s latest warning on long-range missiles is being seen inside and outside Russia as something he will have to act on if London or Washington allow their missiles to be used against Russia.
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University of Innsbruck’s Mangott said the way Putin’s warning has been shown repeatedly on Russian state television created an expectation that he would need to deliver.
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Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, told a press briefing on Friday that Putin’s message had been “extremely clear and unambiguous.”
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Markov, the former Kremlin advisor, said “Russia has decided to break” the strategy of “boiling a frog on a slow flame,” referring to the West’s incremental increases in help to Ukraine aimed at not provoking a sharp Russian response.
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“The step that the West is now planning next, it’s a small step, but it crosses a red line that we will actually be forced to respond to. We will consider that you are at war with us.”
The Sun
