Tomahawk cruise missile deliveries to Ukraine may end in disaster for all: Medvedev

Moscow, Oct 13 (PTI) Deliveries of US Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine for deep strikes inside Russia could result in disaster for all the sides, former Russian president and current deputy chair of the National Security Council Dmitry Medvedev warned on Monday.

“The delivery of those missiles would not be good for anyone,” he warned in a post on Russia’s homegrown Max messenger.

“It is impossible to differentiate between the nuclear version of the Tomahawks from the conventional one and their launch would be controlled by the United States,” Medvedev said.

Commenting on Medvedev’s social media post, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov agreed that since the launch of Tomahawk missiles would require the involvement of US personnel, the potential delivery of such missiles to Kiev could have serious consequences.

“The handling of such sophisticated missiles would inevitably require the involvement of American specialists. That’s an evident fact. This is what Medvedev’s post is about,” he told reporters.

“Any expert who monitors the issue understands it perfectly well,” Peskov added.

Speaking on the state-controlled VestiFM radio, Russian military expert Mikhail Khodaryonok explained that since the Soviet days, US Tomahawk cruise missiles are designated as US nuclear attack weapons and their launch would trigger automatic response from Russia’s anti-missile defence system.

Last week, speaking to the press in the Tajikistan capital Dushanbe, President Vladimir Putin said the Tomahawk cruise missiles will have to be launched by Americans and guide them all the way to the final target inside Russia.

“We will have to boost our air defences to mitigate damage to us, but it will also damage our relations, already not in the best shape,” he said.

According to sources in Duma Defence Committee quoted by various media outlets, USSR had evolved several measures to counter Tomahawk cruise missiles since they first appeared in the late 1970s-mid-1980s.

MiG-31 interceptors were developed to counter them but today Russia has many other options to down them, including electronic warfare, Su-35s fighter, Buk anti-aircraft systems at different stages of flight of these subsonic missiles. PTI VS GSP GSP