NightOwl

In exchange, the compact states have conceded several controls to Washington, one of which is what U.S. officials call "strategic denial," or the authority to prohibit the military forces of other countries from accessing the compact states. Although strategic denial is inconsistent with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which provides all countries with the right of innocent passage in territorial waters and freedom of the high seas in exclusive economic zones, U.S. officials have insisted that it is their right to control the seas, land, and airspace of the compact states.

Ironically, the U.S. position contrasts sharply with its insistence, over Chinese protests, that the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard have the right to conduct so-called "freedom of navigation operations" in waters claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Moscow suspected a U.S. decision to let Kyiv fire such missiles into Russia had already been taken and that there would be a response if that happened.

"It (our response) will be an appropriate one," said Peskov.

"The involvement of the United States of America and European countries in the conflict over Ukraine is direct, and each new step increases the degree of this involvement," he said.

Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, and a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, said Moscow would be forced to use "more powerful and destructive weapons" against Ukraine if Kyiv started firing long-range Western missiles at Russia.

"Washington and other European states are becoming parties to the war in Ukraine," Volodin said on Telegram.