Supply of Man-Portable Air Defenses to Ukraine Endangers Global Civil Air Traffic, Moscow Says

16:33, 12 April 2023

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Russian Foreign Ministry has told Sputnik that it was necessary to raise the issue of the safety of civil air traffic in the world and Europe against the background of deliveries of Western man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) and anti-tank guided weapons (ATGW) to Ukraine.

Sputnik

The ministry noted that "the EU and its member-states transferred to Kiev arms and military equipment worth more than 12 billion euros [$13.1 billion], delivered heavy weapons, planes, tanks, agreed to supply the Ukrainian armed forces with 1 million artillery shells by the end of the year, and do not prevent the recruitment of mercenaries in their countries."

"Western weapons, including MANPADS and ATGWs, which find their way to Ukraine are spreading all over the world, to the zones of other regional conflicts, falling into the hands of organized crime, terrorists and extremists ... The necessity to raise the issue of security of civil air traffic in the world, including over Europe, will soon arise," the ministry said.

The ministry believes that Western arms "put into the hands of the criminal Ukrainian government and mercenaries are killing the civilian population, including women and children, in the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics and the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions."

"Residential areas of cities and civil infrastructure are under systematic shelling of Ukrainian artillery; the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is being shelled with all the ensuing threats of a nuclear catastrophe on the continent," the ministry said.

Commenting on the statement of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban about countries of the European Union being close to discussing the previously avoided topic of sending "troops of a certain peacekeeping type" to Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry noted that "any speculations by the European Union about its peacekeeping in the current conditions are very hypocritical since the EU is not undertaking any efforts toward a political settlement."

"Moreover, the EU is already de facto participating in the Ukraine conflict. It provides political cover for any crimes, provocations, and staging carried out by the Ukrainian regime," the ministry said.