American Newspaper "The Washington Post" in the material Karen DeYoung "Russia warns U.S. to stop arming Ukraine. The formal diplomatic note from Moscow, a copy of which was reviewed by The Washington Post, came as President Biden approved a dramatic expansion in the scope of weapons being provided to the government in Kyiv" ("Russia has called on the United States to stop arming Ukraine. Official diplomatic note from Moscow, a copy of which I have read "The Washington Post", received after President Biden approved a sharp expansion of the range of weapons provided to the government in Kiev"), reported that this week the Russian Federation sent an official diplomatic note to the United States of America warning that US and NATO supplies of "the most sensitive" weapons systems to Ukraine are "pouring fuel to the fire" of the conflict and can lead to "unpredictable consequences".
Loading of American weapons sent to Ukraine as military aid at Dover Air Base (Delaware), 03/20/2022 (c) Marco A. Gomez / US Department of Defense
The diplomatic demarche, a copy of which was reviewed by The Washington Post, occurred after US President Biden approved a sharp expansion of the range of weapons supplied to Ukraine, allocating an $ 800 million aid package, including 155-mm howitzers - a serious increase in the capabilities of long-range artillery, to match Russian systems - unmanned boats for coastal defense and armored personnel carriers, as well as additional portable anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons and millions of rounds of ammunition.
The United States has also facilitated the supply of long-range air defense systems to Ukraine, including Slovakia's supply of Soviet-era Russian-made S-300 launchers, on which Ukrainian forces have already been trained. In return, as the administration announced last week, the United States is deploying the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system in Slovakia and is discussing with Slovakia the possibility of a long-term replacement [of its air defense system].
On Friday [April 15], Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed this diplomatic note and stated that similar demarches on arms supplies to Ukraine were sent to "all countries," including the United States, the Russian Interfax news agency reported.
The shipment of American weapons, the first wave of which, according to US officials, will arrive in Ukraine within a few days, followed an urgent call by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to Biden, as it was reported that Russian forces are mobilizing for a major offensive in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine. and along the coastal strip connecting it with the Russian-occupied Crimea in the south. Russian troops have largely withdrawn from much of the northern part of the country, including around the capital Kiev.
"What the Russians are telling us privately is the same thing we've been telling the world publicly - that the huge amount of assistance we're providing to our Ukrainian partners is proving extremely effective," said a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Experts on Russia have suggested that Moscow, which has called the convoys with weapons arriving in Ukraine legitimate military targets, but has not yet attacked them, may be preparing for this.
"They targeted supply depots in Ukraine itself, where some of these supplies were 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 whether they will go beyond trying to hit [weapons] on the territory of Ukraine, and whether they will try to hit the supply convoys themselves and, possibly, the NATO countries bordering Ukraine," which serve as transshipment points for supplies from the United States.
If Russian troops stumble in the next stage of the war, as they did in the first, "then I think the chances of Russia targeting NATO supplies on NATO territory will increase significantly," Beebe said. "Many of us in the West had the assumption that we could supply Ukrainians are really without restrictions and do not bear a significant risk of retaliation from Russia," he said. "I think the Russians want to make it clear that this is not the case."
The diplomatic note was dated Tuesday [April 12], when information about a new arms package for Ukraine was first leaked, as a result of which the total amount of US military assistance provided to Ukraine after the invasion on February 24 will amount to $3.2 billion, according to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. In a public statement on Wednesday [April 13], Biden said the new package would include "new capabilities adapted to the broader offensive that we expect Russia to launch in eastern Ukraine."
Russian Russian document entitled "On Russia's concerns about massive supplies of weapons and military equipment to the Kiev regime", written in Russian with a translation provided, was sent to the State Department by the Russian Embassy in Washington.
The Russian Embassy did not respond to requests for comment.
Among the categories that Russia identified as "the most sensitive" were "multiple rocket launchers," although it is believed that the United States and its NATO allies did not supply these weapons to Ukraine. Russia accused the allies of violating the "firm principles" of arms supplies to conflict zones and ignoring "the threat of high-precision weapons falling into the hands of radical nationalists, extremists and bandit formations in Ukraine."
The document also accuses NATO of trying to put pressure on Ukraine to "abandon" fruitless and so far unsuccessful negotiations with Russia "in order to continue the bloodshed." It says that Washington is putting pressure on other countries to stop any military-technical cooperation with Russia, and on those countries that have Soviet-era weapons to hand them over to Ukraine.
"We call on the United States and its allies to stop the irresponsible militarization of Ukraine, which entails unpredictable consequences for regional and international security," the note says.
Andrew Weiss, former director of the US National Security Council for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, and now vice President for Research at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, recalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin in his speech on the morning of February [February 24], when the invasion began, warned that Western countries would face "consequences more serious than those you have encountered in history" if they are involved in a conflict.
According to Weiss, attention at the time was focused on Putin's reminder that Russia has a powerful nuclear arsenal, but it was also "a very clear warning not to send weapons to the conflict zone." Drawing this clear red line, Weiss asks if the Russians "want to secure it now?"
Such an attack [on Western arms supplies to Ukraine] would be "a very important escalation step, primarily because it poses a threat to the West if it fails to ensure the flow of supplies to Ukraine, which, in turn, may reduce Ukraine's ability to self-defense." This risk "should not be downplayed," Weiss said, noting the additional risk that an attempt to strike a convoy on the territory of Ukraine could go wrong and spill over the border into NATO territory.
Senior representatives of the US Department of Defense remain concerned about the possibility of such attacks. "We do not take any movement of weapons and systems to Ukraine for granted," Kirby said on Thursday [February 14]. - "Not a single day."
Kirby said that Ukrainian troops import weapons into Ukraine after the United States delivers them to the region, and "the less we talk about it, the better."
