The U.K. and U.S. governments on December 18 said the comments of Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev following the assassination of a high-ranking Russian general by Ukrainian security services were irresponsible and yet another sign of Moscow's desperation.
Medvedev, reacting to an editorial in the London-based Times newspaper that called the December 17 killing of a high-ranking Russian officer "a legitimate act of defense by a threatened nation," said Moscow should apply the same logic.
Medvedev accused NATO and officials from countries allied with Ukraine in its battle to repel invading Russian troops of being participants in the conflict, making them "legitimate military targets."
The U.S. State Department told RFE/RL that Medvedev's comments amounted to more irresponsible rhetoric from the Kremlin and reiterated that the United States and NATO do not seek a military conflict with Russia.
"The Kremlin's aggression against Ukraine is the most significant and direct threat to Europe's security and to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area. It is the Kremlin that started this war, and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin could end it today," the State Department's press office said in a statement e-mailed to RFE/RL.
U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told a briefing on December 17 that Washington had no connection to the killing of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia's Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defense Forces (RKhBZ), or any prior knowledge of it.
SEE ALSO: Migrants On Edge As Russia Arrests Uzbek Over Ukraine's Assassination Of GeneralThe U.K. Foreign Office said the comments were "just another example of Putin’s propaganda machine," while a spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was quoted as saying Medvedev's comments were "simply the latest in a stream of desperate rhetoric" to come out of Putin's government.
"Unlike in Russia, a free press is a cornerstone of our democracy and we take any threats made by Russia incredibly seriously," the spokesman added, according to The Times.
"Our newspapers represent the best of British values: freedom, democracy and independent thinking," he said. "I stand with The Times."
In its article, The Times said the assassination was "a discriminate strike against an aggressor" and that it underlines the need for Western governments to give Ukraine "all support it needs to fight a just war of self-defense."
"All officials of NATO countries involved in decisions about military assistance to...Ukraine are participating in hybrid or conventional warfare against Russia.... And all these individuals can and should be considered legitimate military targets for the Russian state. And for all Russian patriots." Medvedev wrote in response.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told RFE/RL on December 18 that "Russia is always threatening. And it is meant to scare us, so what we see is the threats we have heard before."
Speaking in Brussels before a meeting of EU leaders to discuss the war, she said: "I think the only response we can have is not to be afraid."
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The Moment A Russian General Was Killed By A Scooter Bomb In Moscow (Video)
The man nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia also weighed in on the killing, telling Fox News that it was "not a good idea" in his opinion.
"There are rules of warfare and there are certain things you don't do," said Retired Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg. "When you are killing [officers] in their hometown it's kind of like you kind of extended it and I don't think it's really smart to do."
Kirillov and his assistant were killed by a bomb concealed in a scooter outside the entrance of a Moscow building early on December 17.
Kirillov is one of a number of Russian officers and pro-war figures to be killed in Russia and in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine. His death came a week after a senior official from a Russian company that develops cruise missiles used by Moscow in the war was reportedly shot dead just outside the capital.
Medvedev's rhetoric draws from the Kremlin's long-term narrative of blaming Western "forces" for anti-Russian actions worldwide and acts of sabotage and "terrorism" on Russian territory.
Russian investigators termed the killing a "terrorist" attack and immediately attributed it to Ukrainian intelligence. On December 18, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had detained a suspect -- a 29-year-old unnamed Uzbek national -- in the case.
Medvedev also threatened retribution against journalists from The Times, ominously warning that the newspaper could be included in those "legitimate military targets," adding that "in London, many things happen…be careful."
That warning appears to be a thinly veiled reference to the radiation poisoning of former FSB officer and Kremlin critic Aleksandr Litvinenko in London in 2006, and the attempted assassination of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in the British city of Salisbury with a deadly nerve agent in 2018.