Response to tank promise
Moscow: USA and NATO more and more warring parties
01/26/2023 11:58 am
Moscow sees the announced tank deliveries as direct involvement of the West in the Ukraine conflict. The use is constantly growing, said Kremlin spokesman Peskov. However, Russia has no intention of declaring war on the US or EU countries.
After the decision to supply main battle tanks to Ukraine, the West is increasingly turning itself into a war party from the Kremlin’s perspective. “Everything that the Alliance and the capitals I mentioned (Europe and the US) do is seen in Moscow as direct involvement in the conflict,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Russian news agency Interfax. This effort is constantly growing.
Moscow has repeatedly accused the US and EU of waging a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. Nevertheless, Russia will not declare war, said Peskov. Russia continues to call the invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation” and its status will not change.
“Hybrid War” against Russia
Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the powerful National Security Council, made a similar argument: “The United States and NATO are involved in the conflict in Ukraine,” President Vladimir Putin’s close confidant told the Russian state news agency TASS. They tried to lengthen it, Patrushev said. What is happening in Ukraine today is the result of years of “hybrid war” waged by the West against Russia.
On Wednesday, the German government, in consultation with other western allies, announced that it would hand over Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. Chancellor Olaf Scholz later defended the commitment in an interview. “No, absolutely not,” Scholz replied when asked whether Germany would become a war party.
Despite the opposing view in the Kremlin, the Russian leadership still refuses to declare its own invasion of Ukraine a war. So far, President Vladimir Putin has only imposed martial law with the corresponding restrictions on civil rights in the four annexed Ukrainian regions. However, since the beginning of the war, the Russian parliament has tightened numerous laws that have further restricted people’s freedoms.
Kretschmer is also critical of tank deliveries
But there is also criticism of German tank deliveries to Ukraine in Germany, most recently from Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer: Almost a year ago it was still clear that Germany would not deliver heavy weapons and would not take part in the war in Ukraine either, he said the CDU politician to the MDR. The fact that this is now being hollowed out scares people.
The Prime Minister again stressed the need for diplomatic efforts. The federal government promised Ukraine 14 Leopard 2 tanks from Bundeswehr stocks on Wednesday. Other countries such as the USA had also announced that they would supply battle tanks to Kyiv. Kretschmer had repeatedly expressed concerns about the delivery of heavy weapons in the past and described the German debate about Leopard main battle tanks for Ukraine as difficult to bear.