That is not the shocking part: in fact, it has been largely anticipated for a long time. What is, however, is the following stark admission that in the next round of retaliatory escalations, sparks will fly. Literally:
Russian defense analysts polled by The Moscow Times said unanimously that U.S. arms transfers to Ukraine would be interpreted in Moscow as a declaration of open proxy war with Russia and inevitably lead to escalation of the conflict.
“Moscow will not just sit by calmly and see what happens, it will counteract,” he said.
As for the target? Well, one could say they saw it coming from a desert away:
The Russian counterstrike could take the conflict far beyond Ukraine, according to the source on the Defense Ministry’s public advisory board.
Pointing to one possible avenue of asymmetrical retaliation, the source said Moscow could give in to long-standing Chinese requests for sensitive defense technologies that would aid in its development of high-tech weapons capable of doing serious damage to U.S. naval forces in the Asia-Pacific. Moscow has so far declined China’s requests on “politically correct pretenses,” the source said.
The punchline:
“That’s just one example. We can also encourage Iran, or even back Iran in a fight — a military operation — with Saudi Arabia, so then the prices for oil will skyrocket,” the source said, explaining that these were just two possible responses.
