Western powers ‘playing with fire’ with recent US green light for future deliveries of F-16 fighter jets to Ukrainethreatened on Sunday the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov.
“It is playing with fire. There is no doubt about it”, Lavrov declared in an interview on Russian television, an extract of which was broadcast on the social networks of the journalist who questioned him. And he added: “This is an unacceptable escalation carried out by Washington, London and their satellites within the EU (European Union) who want to weaken Russia.”
According to him, through the supply of modern weapons to Kiev, the Westerners want to “inflict (Moscow) a strategic defeat” and “dismember” Russia, a rhetoric regularly used by the Russian leadership.
Kiev’s allies had refused for more than a year to supply fighter jets to the Ukrainian army fearing an escalation of the conflict, but the United States finally authorized on May 19 the delivery of these F-S16s that Kiev tirelessly demanded.
This represents a major turning point in Western support for Ukraine, whose president, Volodymyr Zelensky, called the decision “historic.”
Before the delivery of these F-16s, manufactured in the United States, Ukrainian pilots must be previously trained for several months to learn how to drive them.
Ukraine wanted these Western planes to counter Russian air power at a time when kyiv says it is finishing preparations for a counteroffensive.
According to US President Joe Biden, Zelensky “categorically assured him” that these fighter jets would not attack Russian territorya condition for Western powers to send equipment to Ukraine.
Ukraine also has the full support of Poland and Slovakia, which have sent their Soviet-made MiG-29 fighters.
Russian threats have been ongoing since Putin launched his invasion on February 24, 2022. In fact, days ago, Putin announced that he would deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus, deepening the indiscriminate use of the territory of the former Soviet republic governed by his ally, the dictator Lukashenko. The move will further endanger the security of Ukraine and all of Europe.
The one this Sunday, in the mouth of Lavrov, joins many others vociferated by other officials close and loyal to the head of the Kremlin. The preferred spokesperson is usually the former president and current vice president of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedevwho, for example, declared weeks ago that it was “entirely imaginable” a precision attack with a Russian missile against the headquarters of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The threat against the Hague Tribunal came after the court ordered the arrest of Putin himself for the kidnapping of thousands of Ukrainian children.
In addition to Putin, the court in The Hague has also identified the main person responsible for children’s rights in Russia, Maria Lvova-Belova, as a fugitive, in both cases as suspects in the forced deportation of Ukrainian children in occupied areas of the east from the country.
“Ukraine can disappear from the world map” is the phrase that Medvedev repeats the most when he wants to impose the Russian narrative in the local and international media.
With information from AFP and Europa Press
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Source-www.infobae.com