Putin's scheme will already work if Kiev is allowed to strike deep into Russia — Lavrov

Russia's retaliatory measures, if the West approves the use of long-range missiles by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, will already be in operation. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Channel One.

"We have stopped monitoring this topic since the President [of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin] said what we would do, what conclusions we would draw if such a decision was made. As soon as it is adopted, if it is adopted, we will find out about it and the scheme that Vladimir Putin mentioned will already be in operation," Lavrov said.

Commenting on the words of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky that the upcoming October 12 meeting of the contact group on military assistance to Kiev in the Ramstein format will be special, and the whole next week will be "largely historic," Lavrov noted that he "does not follow their meetings."

"We We are doing our job, and, most importantly, our servicemen are doing their job, but I do not know what historical plans he [Zelensky] has there. He has many historical events coming for the fate of his government," the minister said, quoted by TASS.

As reported, the meeting on assistance to Ukraine will be held on October 12 at the Ramstein airbase. In front of her, the leaders of Great Britain, Germany, the USA and France plan to hold talks, the main agenda of which will be the Ukrainian conflict and the situation in the Middle East.

The last meeting of the contact group on military assistance to Ukraine took place on September 6. At it, Kiev's allies, in particular, discussed the supply of air defense equipment to Ukraine. The informal name of the group is associated with the American Ramstein airbase, where the first meeting on military assistance to Kiev was held in April 2022. It includes about 50 countries.