Russia denies using Iranian drones in Ukraine war, says no information available
Russia has rejected allegations concerning the use of Iranian drones in his country’s military campaign in Ukraine, saying Russia is rather using domestically-manufactured drones.
Asked on Tuesday whether Russia had used or purchased Iranian drones, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the hardware that is used in the war is Russian.
“No, we do not have such information. The hardware that is used is Russian. You know that. It has Russian names. You can address all other questions to the Defense Ministry,” he said.
US State Department has claimed that Iranian drones were used on a Monday morning attack on the Ukrainian capital Kiev.
Iran has on numerous occasions dismissed as “baseless” the reports about sending combat drones to Russia to be used in the Ukraine war.
On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani reiterated that the Islamic Republic “has not provided weaponry to any of the [warring] parties.”
He stated that the published news has political motives, adding that Iran continues to support a political solution to the conflict.
Back in July, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan claimed Washington had received “information” indicating that Iran was preparing to provide Russia with “up to several hundred UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), including weapons-capable UAVs on an expedited timeline” for use in the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Late last month, Ukraine announced that it would withdraw the accreditation of the Iranian ambassador and significantly reduce the number of diplomatic staff at the country’s embassy in Kiev over what it called Tehran’s “unfriendly” decision to supply Russian forces with drones.
Reacting to the decision, Kan’ani said it was “based on unconfirmed reports and resulted from media hype by foreign sides.”
He added that Iran will respond to the move proportionately.
Russia launched a “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24 with the aim of “demilitarizing” the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas, which is made up of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics.
Back in 2014, the two republics broke away from Ukraine, refusing to recognize a Western-backed Ukrainian government there that had overthrown a democratically-elected Russia-friendly administration.
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