Russian Government Condemns U.S. Decision To Provide Lethal Anti-Tank Weapons to Ukraine

PRESS RELEASE

Russian Government Condemns U.S. Decision To Provide Lethal Anti-Tank Weapons to Ukraine

Dec. 24, 2017 (EIRNS)—The Russian government has reacted very strongly to the U.S.’s government decision to provide anti-tank missiles to Ukraine.

The Dec. 23 Wall Street Journal, in an article entitled, "U.S. To Send Antitank Weaponry to Ukraine, Entering New Phase in Conflict" reported that

"President Donald Trump has signed off on a decision to provide Ukraine with lethal defensive weaponry, including portable antitank armaments, U.S. officials said Friday, in a major shift in the years’ long conflict.... The decision to send Javelin anti-tank missiles places Washington closer to the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The administration notified Congress on Friday, U.S. officials said."

The FGM-148 Javelin, is a light-weight, portable anti-tank missile system, that uses automatic infrared guidance.

"The United States has crossed a line by announcing its intention to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Dec. 23, in a statement posted to the Foreign Ministry website. "U.S. weapons are capable of leading to new casualties in our neighboring country and we cannot remain indifferent to that."

"The United States is clearly prompting [Ukraine] to new bloodshed," Ryabkov said.

"Kyiv’s revenge-seekers have already been shelling Donbas everyday and are unwilling to hold peace talks, while dreaming about doing away with the disobedient population. And the U.S. has decided to give them the weapons to do it."

"Washington is trying to present itself as an intermediary, but it is an accomplice in fomenting a war," Ryabkov stated, and that "Russophobia is obstructing the views of many" in the United States.

Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said,

"This decision undermines the work on implementation of the 2015 Minsk agreements. In fact, [this decision] supports Kiev’s ’party of war,’ that is, the political forces which are for use of force in settlement of the Donbass problem. This is unacceptable."

Konstantin Kosachev, head of the Russian Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee asserted, "Washington’s recent decision, alas,... is in favor of war, not peace."