RUSSIA – President Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to strike inside Russia with long-range missiles supplied by the US has sparked a furious response in Russia. “Departing US president Joe Biden… has taken one of the most provocative, uncalculated decisions of his administration, which risks catastrophic consequences,” declared the website of the Russian government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta on Monday morning. Russian MP Leonid Slutsky, head of the pro-Kremlin Liberal-Democratic Party, predicted that the decision would “inevitably lead to a serious escalation, threatening serious consequences”.Russian senator Vladimir Dzhabarov called it “an unprecedented step towards World War Three”. Anger, yes. But no real surprise. Komsomolskaya Pravda, the pro-Kremlin tabloid, called it “a predictable escalation”. What really counts, though, is what Vladimir Putin calls it and how the Kremlin leader responds. So far he’s stayed silent. But on Monday President Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists that “if such a decision has been taken it means a whole new spiral of tension and a whole new situation with regard to US involvement in this conflict”. Mr Peskov accused the Biden administration of “adding fuel to the fire and continuing to stoke tension around this conflict”. (BBC)

Photo: Putin previously said Moscow would view the move as “direct participation” of Nato countries in the Ukraine war. (Getty Images)