‘Adding fuel to the fire’: Russia blasts US plans to supply lethal arms to Ukraine

‘A reported US plan to supply lethal arms to Kiev will escalate the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Russia’s foreign ministry has warned, adding that the alleged defensive nature of the weaponry doesn’t mean Washington wouldn’t be responsible for a potential spike of violence.
“The masterminds of the plan to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine, apparently, proceed from the assumption that the situation in the east of this country isn’t explosive enough already and that it’s needed to add fuel to the fire,” said Mikhail Ulyanov, the head of the Russian foreign ministry’s Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control.
The diplomat pointed out that “references to the fact that the talk is only about the supply of weapons of a defensive nature don’t change the essence of the matter.”
The government in Kiev has “no one to defend from” because the forces in the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk “aren’t making any attempts to expand their territory,” Ulyanov said.
The reported US move only would escalate the violence as “those circles in Ukraine, who are inclined to bet on the military scenario, would probably perceive the American deliveries as an encouragement of military hostilities,” he explained.’
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