MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin on Monday accused the European Union of acting “hostile” towards Russia, saying arms deliveries to Ukraine were dangerous and destabilizing and proved the legitimacy of efforts to Moscow to “demilitarize” its neighbour.
Western countries have decided to supply more military equipment to Ukraine to help it defend against the Russian offensive, which Moscow describes as a “special military operation” aimed at protecting civilians.
“The European Union is an association which adopts a hostile position with regard to us and which takes measures which are not only not friendly, but are hostile”, declared the press the spokesman of the Kremlin, Dmitri Peskov.
The supply of arms to Ukraine could become “an extremely dangerous and destabilizing factor” which could also have far more dangerous consequences in the long term, he continued.
“Again, this confirms that Russia was right about the steps it took to ensure the demilitarization” of Ukraine, he said.
Dmitry Peskov claimed, without providing evidence, that many Ukrainians were used as human shields and he refused to provide a toll of Russian casualties, referring to the Russian Defense Ministry.
The Kremlin spokesman also refused to specify President Vladimir Putin’s instructions concerning the alerting of the Russian army’s “deterrent force”, including its nuclear component, or to answer a question on the risk of confrontation. between Russia and NATO.
(Reuters Moscow office report, French version Myriam Rivet, said by Bertrand Boucey)