by Peter Schiff, Schiff Gold:

“Retaliatory measures will definitely follow,” Kremlin officials promise the U.S. ambassador after a Ukrainian missile strike was allegedly conducted with U.S.-supplied weapons and intelligence.

“You should ask my colleagues in Europe, and above all in Washington, the press secretaries, why their governments are killing Russian children,” said Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesperson, following Sunday’s strike on Crimea that injured more than 150 people and killed at least four. Bitterly adding: “We perfectly understand who is behind this.”

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Russian officials claim not only that the weapons used in the attack were supplied by the U.S., but also that they were programmed and aimed by the U.S. military. That’s enough, according to the Kremlin, to make the U.S. “a party to the conflict,” a player in Ukraine’s so-called “proxy war.”

On Monday, a day after the Ukrainian strike on what it claims as its own territory, a Russian missile attack killed at least five people in the Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk, leaving both children and adults wounded. With retaliation on Ukraine swift, brutal, and decisive, Putin is now turning his attention toward plans for the U.S.

It won’t be hard for the Russian president to choose a move that will make the nation squirm, even without deploying the nuclear weapons he’s touting via sensationalist Western news outlets. Putin is unlikely to risk inflicting violence on a trade partner worth $5 billion (even after trade with the U.S. plummeted to near-USSR collapse levels).

But there’s one conspicuously sitting duck beneath the wheels of the Russian political machine. Evan Gershkovich, Wall Street Journal reporter, and American citizen, has been a prisoner of the regime for more than a year. His trial kicked off this week, putting the journalist in jeopardy of 20 years in prison if convicted of colluding with the CIA.

“The only people present in the court will be the judge, state prosecutor, the defendant, his lawyer, and a clerk,” lawyer Evengy Smirnov, who specializes in helping defendants like Gershkovich, told Reuters. “There is no doubt the Russian authorities initiated this case solely for political reasons”—which have only intensified since Gershkovich’s capture.

It’s an easy lever for Russian negotiations. Give us–, let us–, don’t fight back—or we’ll convict your man. The collateral for Gershkovich’s release could be almost anything. Prisoners, trade agreements, money, or investments may all be up for grabs and could radically alter the economic and political landscape surrounding high-value trade channels and resources.

Despite mounting tensions, Russia and Ukraine have apparently managed to swap 90 POWs following the mutual attacks, according to a statement from the Russian Defence Ministry. This is an oddly amicable move, possibly a sign that Putin is seizing on these attacks as an opportunity to target the U.S. economy rather than focusing on his Ukrainian adversaries.

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