The EU’s military training for Ukrainian forces and arms deliveries to Kyiv make the bloc a party to the conflict, a Russian government official said on Thursday.
Speaking at a press briefing in Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized the recent EU move to support military assistance to Ukraine.
“Almost €107 million ($104.6 million) are allocated for this venture. This step goes along with the supply of lethal weapons to the Kyiv regime, qualitatively increases the involvement of the European Union, making it, of course, a party to the conflict,” she said.
The EU Council on Monday agreed to set up a military assistance mission to further support the Ukrainian armed forces, which are fighting Russian troops since February.
According to EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, the mission will start its work in November.
Zakharova also warned that NATO’s military support to Ukraine brings the bloc closer “to the dangerous line of a direct military clash with Russia.”
“NATO countries, as if competing with each other, continue to pump up the Kyiv regime with weapons and ammunition, supply it with intelligence, train soldiers of the Kyiv regime, and give guidance on the conduct of hostilities, thereby closing to the dangerous line of a direct military clash with Russia,” she said.
Every month some $1 billion worth of Western weapons, supplied to Ukraine, turn up in the black markets, Zakharova claimed.
“The monthly contraband turnover of this very black market exceeds $1 billion. NATO military cargo destined for the Kyiv regime ends up in the hands of terrorists, extremists, and criminal groups in the Middle East, Central Africa, and Southeast Asia,” she said.
US seeking reason to pressure Iran
Commenting on assessments that Iran supplying drones to Russia would violate a UN Security Council resolution that endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, Zakharova said the only country that already violated the agreement and continues to do so is the US.
“They just pulled out of the deal … According to their logic, they should have imposed sanctions on themselves for violating UN Security Council Resolution 2231,” the spokeswoman stressed.
“This is obvious, this is pressure on Tehran. It will be carried out in a number of directions, as it is happening now – interference in Iran’s internal affairs, pressure on the Iranian political leadership, inventing non-existent reasons, using existing opportunities, all together. The West knows how to do it.”
Zakharova called reports on the drone deliveries “rumors spread by the American media,” adding that they have been refuted by both Iranian and Russian representatives.
The Iran nuclear deal was signed in 2015 between Iran and P5+1 – the US, UK China, Russia, France, Germany, and the EU.
Tehran committed to limit its nuclear activity to civilian purposes and in return, world powers agreed to drop their economic sanctions against Iran.
But the US, under then President Donald Trump, unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to stop complying with the nuclear deal.
Since taking office last year, however, President Joe Biden has been working to restore the deal.
Source: Anadolu Agency