By refraining from supplying certain weapons systems to Ukraine, the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) are trying to balance between military assistance to Kyiv and the absence of a direct confrontation with Russia. On Thursday, May 26, Dmitry Belik, a member of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, told Izvestiya.
“NATO is trying to balance between military assistance to Ukraine and avoiding direct conflict with Russia. To avoid direct confrontation with our country, NATO has repeatedly stated. So NATO countries are closely monitoring the situation and rightly think that the supply of a certain type of weapons can provoke Russia into serious retaliatory actions, ”he stressed.
As the deputy noted, it is one thing to use Ukraine as a springboard for the fight against Russia, and quite another to engage in confrontation ourselves.
The day before, the German publication Zeit Online, citing sources, reported that there were informal agreements between NATO countries to refrain from supplying certain weapons systems to Ukraine.
On May 25, Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk, in an interview with the Funke media group, said that the German government was delaying the process of approving arms supplies to Kyiv. He explained that the slowdown is happening, despite the fact that for Ukraine “every day matters.”
On May 1, it became known that residents of Germany signed a petition to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urging them not to supply heavy weapons to Kyiv.
On April 20, the former head of the British Joint Forces Command, General Richard Barrons, said that the North Atlantic Alliance was trying to avoid a full-scale confrontation with Russia, as it was not ready for it.
For the same reason, a no-fly zone over Ukraine was not allowed. In particular, on March 1, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson noted that NATO cannot provide a no-fly zone over Ukraine, because this would lead to a direct clash with Russia, and the consequences of this could get out of control. A similar position is also held by US President Joe Biden.
Western countries began to arm Ukraine against the backdrop of a Russian special operation to protect civilians in Donbass, which began on February 24. Moscow explained that the tasks of the special operation include the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, the implementation of which is necessary to ensure the security of Russia. The decision was made against the backdrop of aggravation in the region as a result of shelling by the Ukrainian military.