Russian diplomat: U.S. arming of Ukraine to increase risk of Russian "direct engagement"
MOSCOW. Feb 11 (Interfax) - The majority of European countries disapprove of the U.S. plan to supply Ukraine with lethal arms, said the Russian permanent envoy to the European Union.
"The majority of European countries have a negative attitude to prospects of providing Ukraine with weapons as they are, actually, aware that, first of all, this means pouring gas on the flames of the conflict, and, secondly, and even more dangerously, there would be a greater risk of direct retaliation from Russia and a risk of direct engagement," Vladimir Chizhov told Russia's Rossiya 24 television station.
"As we know, quite a few shells have strayed from Ukrainian territory into Rostov and other administrative units of the Russian Federation," he added.
He credited Germany with a sensible stance on the arms supply plan. "Unfortunately, not all EU countries share it," he said.
Chizhov said it was paradoxical that in Europe support for the plan comes from countries that do not produce weapons.
