Russian Foreign Ministry urges West to stop shipping advanced weapons to Ukraine

MOSCOW. March 6 (Interfax) - The Russian Foreign Ministry has called on Western countries to stop supplying Ukraine with man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) and antitank missile systems, as they pose huge danger to civilian facilities.

"Western countries have started massive supplies of Stinger MANPADS (strikes ground and overwater targets at distances of up to 8 kilometers and altitudes of up to 3.5 kilometers), other man-portable systems, as well as Javelin, NLAW, and Carl Gustaf antitank missile systems, which are listed, without any exaggeration, among the most sensitive types of weapons," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement posted on the ministry website on Saturday.

"The organizers of these supplies cannot fail to understand the growing danger of these precision-guided weapons' falling into the hands of terrorist elements and gangs not only in Ukraine, but also in Europe as a whole. The leakage of these types of weapons into the shadow sector and into the hands of terrorist networks is just a matter of time. MANPADS pose huge danger to civilian aircraft, and antitank systems to railway transport and infrastructure elements," she said.

"We are calling on EU and NATO countries once again to stop thoughtlessly pumping the unviable Kyiv regime with advanced weapons to avoid colossal risks for international civil aircraft and other transport communications not only in Europe but also outside it," she said.