So we should not be surprised if Putin feels provoked by stray American remarks, in the same way that Biden has been provoked by the scope of the Russian invasion to call Putin a war criminal. At worst, they suggest that the US is more directly involved in the war than it says it is or wants to be, providing Putin with a pretext for widening his war. Because thanks to loose lips in Washington, the US is contributing to Vladimir Putin's propaganda, and possibly still worse, to a direct confrontation with Moscow.