Russia to US: Halt 'spiral of escalation' over Ukraine

Russia on Wednesday warned the U.S. to stop what it said was a “spiral of escalation” over Ukraine as Washington moves to quickly supply Kyiv with more weapons as the Biden administration winds down.

“The signal is very clear and obvious — stop, you should not do this anymore, you do not need to supply Kiev with everything they want, do not encourage them to new military adventures, they are too dangerous,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Russian state media.

Despite the warning, Ryabkov also said Moscow would continue to inform Washington about test missile launches to avoid “dangerous mistakes.”

The comments come after Russia last week launched what it said was a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile known as Oreshnik. The missile, designed to hit targets thousands of miles away, hit a Ukrainian military command center, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed.

Putin also last week lowered the nuclear threshold in response to the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) authorization — which the Biden administration has yet to publicly confirm — renewing fears that Russia could deploy a nuclear weapon against Ukraine.

The launch and lowered nuclear limit were confirmed by Putin as direct responses to the U.S. authorizing Ukraine to use the ATACMS to hit further into Russian territory, something Moscow has referred to as a red line for months.

The Biden administration also last week announced it will allow Ukraine to use antipersonnel land mines to mitigate Russia’s battlefield progress, undoing a policy the Biden administration previously set at the beginning of his term.

In addition, President Biden is rushing the last of some $9 billion in security aid to Ukraine before his term ends on Jan. 20. The latest package of some $275 million was announced last Wednesday.

“The current [U.S.] administration must stop this spiral of escalation,” Ryabkov said. “They simply must, otherwise the situation will become too dangerous for everyone, including the United States itself.”

But he added the Kremlin will continue to alert Washington of its launches to avoid a situation where tensions spiral out of control. Russia reportedly warned the U.S. government about the Oreshnik’s launch about 30 minutes before it took flight.

“I am sure you understand that this was a stabilizing factor in the very dangerous situation in which we currently find ourselves. We are committed to this practice and we hope that the United States will also be committed to it,” Ryabkov said. “We also hope that such actions will help reduce the risks of miscalculation or dangerous mistakes.”