Putin's war on Ukraine: West 'no longer worried' when Russia's rhetoric, talking points go 'nuclear'

As Biden takes US deeper into Russia's war on Ukraine and Blinken vows NATO response to rising Russian hybrid attacks, FRANCE 24 is joined by Dr. Alexandra Filippenko, Political Analyst and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for US and Canadian Studies, Russian Academy of Science. US President Joe Biden's decision to relax some restrictions on Ukraine's use of American weaponry inside Russia is a small but significant step deeper into the two-year-old war that experts say could help blunt Russia's cross-border Kharkiv offensive. All the while, NATO allies are alarmed and will respond to a rising campaign of hybrid attacks against them by Russia, warned US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Speaking after two days of talks in Prague among NATO foreign ministers, Blinken said: "Virtually every ally was seized with this intensification of Russia's hybrid attacks. "We know what they're up to, and we will respond both individually and collectively as necessary," Blinken told reporters. Blinken pointed to a series of incidents short of military strikes against the 32-member transatlantic alliance, which considers an attack on one an attack on all. Russia last week removed buoys demarcating the border with Estonia in the River Narva. Blinken also pointed to incidents inside NATO of "setting fire and sabotaging supply warehouses" as well as growing cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns attributed to Russia. Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna this week told AFP that Russia was "pushing the limits and also playing with our fears". NATO earlier this month condemned Russian "malign activities" on its territory, saying actions like disinformation, sabotage, violence and cyberinterference threatened the alliance's security. Authorities in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Britain have recently investigated and charged people in connection with "hostile state activity". The incidents come as Russia mounts an offensive in northeastern Ukraine, scoring battlefield victories more than two years into its invasion. Blinken confirmed that President Joe Biden has approved Ukrainian requests to use US weapons to strike Russian forces involved in the offensive even if they are immediately across the border. The top US diplomat repeated his warning that a victory by Russia would embolden not only Moscow but other "would-be aggressors".