Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has called NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg a “dangerous gentleman” for his proposal to allow Kiev to strike targets in Russia with Western weapons. Such a move could lead to World War III, Salvini has warned.
The NATO chief has been urging western donors of longer-range weapons to allow attacks against targets on Russian soil. The arms were reportedly provided on the condition that they would not be used outside territory claimed by Kiev. The stipulation is intended to prevent further escalation of the conflict. However, in an interview with The Economist last week, Stoltenberg claimed it is time for the US-led military bloc’s allies to reconsider all the restrictions.
He reiterated his stance on Monday during a press conference at the 2024 Spring Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Commenting on Stoltenberg’s words, Salvini described them as “dangerous and reckless.”
“This gentleman is dangerous because the talking about a third world war, about Western weapons capable of striking and killing inside Russia, seems to me very, very dangerous and reckless,” he told reporters on Monday.
Senior Italian officials, including Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, have rejected Stoltenberg’s public calls for a policy change. The Italian PM has advised “greater caution.”
On Sunday, Salvini told an election rally that Stoltenberg “cannot speak on behalf of the Italian people.”
“NATO cannot force us to kill in Russia, nor can anyone force us to send Italian soldiers to fight or die in Ukraine,” Salvini said, arguing that Rome is sending Kiev weapons only to “defend itself,” not to “fight, strike and kill outside its territory.”
Western leaders, most notably French President Emmanuel Macron, have been making increasingly bold statements about attacks on Russian territory. However, according to Moscow, the claims of existing restrictions on the use of Western munitions are false and designed to maintain an illusion that the West is not part of the conflict.
The West is already “at war” with Russia and the weaponry it supplies to Ukraine is being actively used to strike deep inside the country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has insisted.
Moscow reacts to NATO chief’s call for attacks deeper inside Russia
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has exceeded his mandate by calling for Ukraine to be allowed use Western-donated weapons for strikes deep inside Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
The NATO chief has been urging western donors of longer-range weapons to allow attacks against targets located inside Russia. The arms were reportedly provided on the condition that they would not be used outside Russian territory that is claimed by Kiev. The stipulation is intended to prevent further escalation of the conflict.
“The time has come for allies to consider whether they should lift some of the restrictions,” the secretary general told The Economist last week.
Some NATO member states have already “yanked Stoltenberg,” Lavrov told the media on Monday, referring to opposing remarks coming from the Italian government.
“I doubt that the secretary general can take it upon himself to speak on behalf of members of the bloc before this issue is discussed within NATO,” he added. “I believe he has stepped outside of his authority.”
Senior Italian officials, including Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, have rejected Stoltenberg’s public calls for a policy change.
“I don’t know why Stoltenberg said such a thing, I think we have to be very careful,” the Italian leader told local media on Sunday. Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said during an election rally on the same day that the NATO chief “cannot speak on behalf of the Italian people,” and urged him to “either ask for forgiveness, rectify his remarks or resign.”
Lavrov previously described the Western ban on long-range strikes as largely irrelevant in the context of the armed conflict.
“American weapons are already being used against various targets outside the combat zone,” he said last week. “We proceed from the fact that American and other Western weaponry strikes targets on the territory of Russia, primarily civilian infrastructure and residential areas.”
Ukrainian officials have claimed that the limitations imposed by the West are responsible for Russia’s recent advances in Kharkov Region. US Secretary of State Antony Blineken is reportedly lobbying fellow members of the Biden administration with a view to lifting the prohibition applying to American weapons.
"NATO is raising the degree of escalation. NATO is going too far in military rhetoric. It is falling into a kind of military ecstasy. This is the reality that we will have to confront further on," Peskov said.
At the same time, he emphasized that Stoltenberg's calls for supplying more arms and ammunition to Ukraine and lifting restrictions on their use could not be his personal opinion. "He is an official. He is the secretary general of the North Atlantic Alliance. This is how we perceive this," Peskov emphasized. He added that "our military also knows what is to be done." "The army continues the special military operation," he stated.
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