The Kremlin stressed Thursday that actions on the part of the West in connection with the war in Ukraine «is perceived as direct involvement in the conflict,» after Germany announced the shipment of Leopard battle tanks and unblocked such deliveries by other European countries.
«We constantly hear from European capitals and Washington that the shipment to Ukraine of weapons systems, including tanks, does not imply a participation of these countries or NATO in hostilities in Ukraine. We categorically disagree,» Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
«For Moscow, everything that the Alliance and the capitals I mentioned are doing is perceived as direct involvement in the conflict. We see that this is increasing,» he has maintained, as picked up by Russia’s Interfax news agency.
He also ruled out that the authorities «do not have on the agenda» a possible change of the «special military operation» as a result of the delivery of tanks, while he played down the importance of the refusal of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to negotiate with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
«I don’t think a response is necessary. He has long since ceased to be a potential opponent for Putin,» Peskov noted. «We know what Zelensky’s promises were when he was elected president, it’s not hard to remember. He did not solve the problem in the Donbas. He did not fulfill the Minsk Agreements. It seems that he was not going to do it and was preparing for war,» he concluded.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
