US President, Not Individual Politicians, Should Make All Decisions: Lavrov

Commenting on calls by US politicians to hand over nuclear weapons to Kiev, the top diplomat said: "Politicians are politicians precisely for this reason, to constantly keep public attention on their person." "We also have politicians who talk about escalation. Decisions are made by the supreme commander-in-chief. I have a hope that it should be the same in the United States," Lavrov said, TASS reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on November 21 that the United States and its NATO allies had earlier announced that they would authorize Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons to hit inside Russia, after which American and British missiles struck Russian military facilities in the Kursk and Bryansk regions.

He said that Russia responded to those attacks by firing Russia's newest Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile with a non-nuclear warhead at a Ukrainian defense industry facility, the Yuzhmash plant in Dnepr (formerly Dnepropetrovsk). The Russian leader emphasized that the West's provocative policies could have dire consequences if they further escalate the conflict.