Russia slams potential US plans to arm Kiev
Russia has slammed potential US plans to supply weapons and ammunition to the Ukrainian government as a “major blow” to the recent Minsk agreements between Kiev and pro-Russia forces, threatening to respond “appropriately.”
“It would be a major blow to the Minsk agreements and would explode the whole situation,” said Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov in reference to US plans to arm Ukraine.
He added that Moscow would not remain indifferent “to such provocative actions” and “will have to respond appropriately,” TASS news agency reported Monday.
The development came following renewed pleas by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for Washington to supply arms to Ukraine in a recent meeting with US Vice President Joe Biden.
Ryabkov said, “Is that necessary for those who are allegedly calling for the normalization of the situation in Ukraine? I have serious doubts. People may be irresponsible in their actions, but there must be an end to this madness [of] indulging Kiev’s warmongering.”
Meanwhile, the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Aleksandr Zakharchenko, announced in a Monday press briefing that Washington is already supplying Kiev with armaments on a “large-scale basis,” saying that Ukrainian forces are not interested in peace.
Earlier, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev stated that if Moscow were to respond to the potential supply of US arms to Kiev, it would only do so through “diplomatic means.”
Ukraine’s warring sides reached a ceasefire deal, dubbed Minsk II, at a summit attended by the leaders of Russia, France, and Germany in the Belarusian capital on February 11 and 12.
The agreement introduced measures such as a ceasefire – which commenced on February 15 – a pullout of heavy weapons, and constitutional reform in Ukraine by the end of the year.
Donetsk and Lugansk are two mainly Russian-speaking regions in eastern Ukraine that have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Russia forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations in April last year to crush protests there.
Nearly 5,700 people have been killed and close to a million have been displaced since the armed conflict began in eastern Ukraine in April 2014.
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