Russia considers the US and European commitments to provide tank aid to Ukraine as evidence of the West’s increasingly direct involvement in hostilities.
“Europe and the United States have repeatedly stated that the aid of weapons systems to Ukraine, including tanks, does not significantly increase their involvement in the conflict in Ukraine,” the spokesman said. Kremlin Dmitry Peskov said today.
“We completely disagree with this view. And in Moscow, everything that the parties I mentioned above are doing is considered to be directly involved in the conflict. We see this situation increasing. increase,” Peskov added.
Peskov’s comments were the first response from the Kremlin to statements from Germany and the United States on January 25, when Berlin and Washington announced they would provide Kiev with dozens of tanks to deal with Moscow.
Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev today also accused the US and NATO of being involved in the conflict in Ukraine and seeking to prolong hostilities.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov at a press conference in Moscow 2020. Photo: AFP.
Germany on January 25 said it would transfer 14 Leopard 2 main battle tanks in service to Ukraine, and at the same time approved the proposal of partner countries to re-export this type of tank to Kiev. A Ukrainian official said 12 countries “agreed to supply Ukraine with about 100 Leopard 2 tanks if Germany accepts”.
The Leopard 2 is a third generation battle tank developed in the 1970s for the West German army, entered service in 1979. Germany produces more than 3,600 Leopard 2 tanks, a series of variants available in service in the army. team Germany and 13 European countries, as well as many countries outside the region.
The US on the same day announced it would send 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. US President Joe Biden said the tanks “posed no threat of attack” to Russia and that they were needed to help Ukraine “enhance its ability to move on flat, open terrain”.
The US developed the M1 Abrams in 1972-1975 and operated this tank from 1980 to the present. The M1 tank is equipped with a 120 mm cannon, a 7.62 mm coaxial gun and a 12.7 mm gun, which can reach a maximum speed of 67 km/h. The crew of M1 Abrams has 4 people, including the commander, gunner, loader and driver.
Russia insists that any weapons transferred by the West to Ukraine will only prolong the conflict and lead to unnecessary bloodshed. Peskov once warned that “German tanks will burn up on the Ukrainian battlefield like the rest of Western weapons”.
Like Tam (Theo AFP, Reuters)