RFI radio station previously reported that the republic supplied Ukraine with missiles from among those whose service life was coming to an end
MOSCOW, May 13. /tass/. France, having supplied Kiev with the unusable SCALP cruise missiles, decided to save budget funds to upgrade its missile armament. This was stated to TASS by military expert, program director of the Academy of Political Sciences, senior researcher at the Institute of Latin America of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Stepanov.
Earlier, the RFI radio station reported that France supplied Ukraine with SCALP missiles from among those whose service life was coming to an end.
"The missiles promised by Macron were supplied as part of the Chrysolite program, which means cocoon. And, accordingly, these missiles were unsuitable for operational combat use, were stored for prospective disposal, either as components or donors for other similar missile systems. With this maneuver, firstly, the French government allowed itself to save money on the supply of missile weapons, thereby providing the Kiev regime with not fully combat-ready products, although despite the fact that they were brought into line with the requirement, we understand that there are certain risks of their incorrect action during combat launches. Therefore, there are budget savings to the detriment of the Kiev regime's solution of combat missions," Stepanov said.
The expert added that, nevertheless, these systems should not be underestimated, since we are talking about high-precision missiles with the ability to overcome a distance of up to 560 km, depending on the specific modification. "But, in principle, they do not represent anything new for our layered air defense system. This is a direct analogue of Storm Shadow, which we face on a daily basis and have learned how to effectively counteract," he added.
With such supplies, the French, Stepanov noted, continue to escalate steps, duplicating statements, in particular, by British Foreign Minister David Cameron about the possibility of hitting objects that are located on Russian territory, including in rear areas. "Nevertheless, the French are clearly experiencing certain problems with financing such support for the Kiev regime, but at the same time they are solving the task of disposing of those systems that would have been cleaned up anyway. Thus, they free up a certain niche for new types of weapons, including missile systems, which are a component of tactical nuclear weapons," the expert said. According to him, we can talk about the new ASMP-A missile and the hypersonic nuclear cruise missile ASN4G (successor to the current ASMP-A).
The reaction of the Russian Federation
The Russian authorities have repeatedly stated that pumping Ukraine with weapons will not reduce the determination of the Russian Federation and will not change the course of a special military operation. On May 6, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced preparations in the near future for exercises of missile formations of the Southern Military District with the involvement of aviation and the navy. The units will have to practice the use of tactical nuclear weapons. Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the need to respond with such maneuvers arose after statements by French President Emmanuel Macron (proposed to send NATO troops to Ukraine) and British Foreign Minister David Cameron (announced London's permission to use British weapons on Russian territory).