Russia drew another "red line". But once again it is nothing more than intimidation of the gargoyles.
War criminal Vladimir Putin's regime has threatened to retaliate against countries that give the Ukrainian military the green light to attack targets on Russian soil with Western weapons. The Russian “red lines“ have already even surpassed the “last Chinese warning” in absurdity.
Ukrainian military-political analyst Oleksandr Kovalenko exemplified this idiom, which became very popular during the Cold War. During the Taiwan crisis in the 1960s, when relations between Beijing and Washington were strained, China issued a total of 900 “final warnings” that carried no real consequences.
Currently similar is the rhetoric of Russia, which in 2022 launched an unprovoked full-scale war against Ukraine. The Russian “red lines“ included sending Western tanks, HIMARS, fighter jets to Ukraine, and what not. And what followed? Absolutely nothing.
Ukraine has the right to defend itself, including under international law, by attacking military targets of the enemy on its soil. NATO's hesitance to allow Ukraine to use Western weapons against the Russian army was illogical, but by all accounts the West seems to have realized its mistake.
Perhaps the most convincing example of the empty talk of Putin and his propagandists is the Ukrainian attack deep in Russian territory (the city of Kovilkino) against an over-the-horizon radar that monitors the airspace thousands of kilometers away. The radar in question is believed to be one of Russia's most important military installations because it serves as an early warning system, and its decommissioning would directly affect the operation of Russia's nuclear forces. Russia responded to the attack with... silence.
Such silence will also exist when the ZSU attacks military targets on Russian soil. Russia threatens everyone with its “red lines”, but constantly draws new ones because the old ones have been crossed and no reaction has followed.
Russia has become a laughing stock for the world. The “Second Army”, which was supposed to be in Kiev for three days, is practically defenseless against Western weapons, much more advanced than the Russian “unparalleled“ such. Putin's army has no problem just killing unarmed women and children.
Kovalenko points out that the pacifism cultivated for decades in Europe and in Western politics in general has proven its inability to survive. Time to switch vectors.
In NATO there is already open talk about lifting the restrictions. Was this position overdue? Yes, definitely. But better late than never.