It was informed that this week russia sent an official diplomatic note to the United States, warning that US and NATO supplies of the “most sensitive” weapons systems to Ukraine were “adding fuel” to the conflict there and could bring “unpredictable consequences.”
The source. This was reported by “The Washington Post” with reference to the diplomatic démarche.
Details. President Biden approved a dramatic expansion in the scope of weapons being provided to Ukraine. That was about an $800 million package including 155 mm howitzers, Coast Guard drones and armored vehicles, as well as additional portable anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons and millions of munitions.
The United States has also facilitated the supply to Ukraine of long-range air defense systems, including Slovakia’s shipment of russian-manufactured Soviet-era S-300 launchers on which Ukrainian forces have already been trained.
“What the russians are telling us privately is precisely what we’ve been telling the world publicly – that the massive amount of assistance that we’ve been providing our Ukrainian partners is proving extraordinarily effective,” said a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The State Department declined to comment on the contents of the two-page diplomatic note or any US response. russian experts suggested that moscow, which has labeled weapons convoys coming into the country as legitimate military targets, may be preparing to attack them.
“They have targeted supply depots in Ukraine itself, where some of these supplies have been stored,” said George Beebe, former director of russia analysis at the CIA and russia adviser to former vice president Dick Cheney.
“The real question is do they go beyond attempting to target [the weapons] on Ukrainian territory, try to hit the supply convoys themselves and perhaps the NATO countries on the Ukrainian periphery” that serve as transfer points for the US supplies.
“There has been an assumption on the part of a lot of us in the West that we could supply the Ukrainians really without limits and not bear significant risk of retaliation from russia,” he added.
The document, titled “On russia’s concerns in the context of massive supplies of weapons and military equipment to the Kyiv regime,” written in russian with a translation provided, was forwarded to the State Department by the russian Embassy in Washington.
Among the items russia identified as “most sensitive” were “multiple launch rocket systems,” although the United States and its NATO allies are not believed to have supplied those weapons to Ukraine.
Background. It should be recalled that the United States will hand over Mi-17 helicopters, which were previously intended for Afghanistan, to Ukraine as part of a new package of military assistance.