Does Washington have the guts to attack Moscow? The answer is obvious

John Kirby, White House Coordinator for Strategic Communications, spoke about a possibility of a direct confrontation between the United States and Russia. In his opinion, such a scenario can be possible provided that Russia wins strategic victory in Ukraine. Does Washington indeed intend to get involved in a confrontation with Moscow? Pravda.Ru tried to find out what experts and analysts think on the subject.

Photo: Flot 2017

USA's position

The American military will very likely have to get involved should [Russian President Vladimir] Putin win a strategic victory in Ukraine, Kirby said during a press briefing. He also assessed Kyiv's chances of winning the conflict with the Russian Federation by saying that there was a big risk for Ukraine to lose.

"American boots would very much have to be involved if Mr. Putin is allowed to have this strategic victory in Ukraine and then perhaps goes after one of our NATO allies,” Kirby said.

On December 6, US President Joe Biden, during a special address to Congress on Ukraine, said that Russia, after defeating Kiev, would attack NATO countries.

"If Putin takes Ukraine, he won't stop there. It's important to see the long run here. He's going to keep going. He's made that pretty clear," Biden said.

White House spokesman Matthew Miller also spoke about the difficult situation in Ukraine as Washington was running out of support funds. The US spent 97 percent of the funds that were allocated to Ukraine, Miller specified.

Russia's reaction

Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov, reacting to statements from the American side, noted that the United States "lost touch with reality.”

"Such "spooky stories” are fabricated in order to justify fabulous expenses on Russia's contentment before taxpayers and sober-minded political forces […] This kind of provocative rhetoric is unacceptable for a responsible nuclear power,” the diplomat noted.

Antonov called on the US authorities to "come to their senses and stop wreaking havoc around the world.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that Moscow found USA's efforts to demonise Russia regretful.

"We have seen and very much regret that the US leadership continues its habit of using Russia in its internal affairs. In this case specifically, US officials are engaged in the absolutely blatant demonisation of our country in order to indoctrinate their congressmen and senators to be able to continue burning American taxpayers' money in the furnace of the Ukrainian war. We believe that this is a very, very annoying practice,” Peskov said, RIA Novosti reports.

Not this year

Dmitry Taran, a military analyst and political scientist, believes that all the rhetoric about the possibility of a direct armed confrontation between Russia and the US is part of the media hyper to generate hysteria.

"This is a psychological period that we are going through. There was a similar psychological period back in 1961 during the Cuban Missile Crisis. This is a controlled process, and there will be a certain reset in the end. I think that this year everything will be fine. It is vital for Russia to stick to its line now. We should not make any mistakes. We should not sit at the negotiating table on their terms and everything will work out just fine. I think that all this hysteria will eventually fade away and everything will come to certain predictable goals. Transformation is underway," the expert said.

Stanislav Tarasov, a political scientist and historian, shares a similar point of view.

"These are speculative statements that come from the United States of America. They are heightening tensions. The States are losing the game, Israel is losing the information and political campaign as well. Unfortunately, the conflict is gaining signs of regionalisation. The Americans came to realise that they would have to either leave the region or weaken their presence there. It is Russia that is filling the vacuum now," the specialist believes.