Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the annual meeting of the Council of the Ministry of Defense in Moscow, Russia, December 21, 2022.
Sergey Fadeychev | Sputnik | Reuters
Russia has expressed growing fury at the prospect of sending modern Western tanks to Ukraine, calling it “extremely dangerous” and saying previous “red lines” are a thing of the past.
Germany announced Wednesday that it was ready to send 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and permit other countries to send their very own German tanks to Kiev. The US is also expected to announce its own intention to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine soon.
Ukraine’s use of recent Western tanks is likely to give impetus to its efforts to drive Russian forces out of the occupied areas of the country, especially the eastern Donbas region, but Russia sees the gift of tanks as further evidence that the West is fighting what it sees as a proxy war against him in Ukraine.
‘Extremely Dangerous’
The Russian embassy in Berlin called the German government’s decision “extremely dangerous” and said it “brings the conflict to a latest level of confrontation.”
In a web based statementtranslated by Google, the embassy said the move “contradicts statements by German politicians about the reluctance of West Germany [Federal Republic of Germany] get caught up in it [the war]. Unfortunately, this example repeats itself over and another time.”
The embassy said it was now convinced that Germany and its closest allies “will not be occupied with a diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian crisis” but “are set on its continued escalation and unrestricted pumping of the Kiev regime with increasingly deadly weapons.”
Finally, he warned that “red lines” or restrictions on either side “are a thing of the past”, echoing similar comments by the Russian Foreign Ministry earlier Wednesday when it reacted to the prospect of sending US Abrams tanks to Ukraine, claiming that Washington “unequivocally expressed a desire to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.
A German government spokesman was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
“There is a hybrid war happening against our country, which the foreign minister is talking about [Sergey] Lavrov spoke about the details recently. Arguments over red lines are a thing of the past.” — reported the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the state news agency Tassin comments translated by Google.
“The US has made it clear that it wants to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. It’s not possible not to notice the reality,” the ministry added, Tass reported.
After Germany’s decision on tanks, all eyes are on the US to see if they may announce their willingness to send quite a few their very own Abrams tanks to Ukraine. Three senior American officials told NBC News on Tuesday that the Biden administration was preparing to send dozens of Abrams tanks to Ukraine, even though it stressed that the decision was not final.
Reportedly, Germany was reluctant to send its own tanks unless the US did the same, and last Friday’s defense summit in Germany failed to reach an agreement on tanks and the US remained noncommittal on sending Abrams. But Germany’s turn also means a change of attitude in Washington.
Even in the absence of an announcement from the White House, Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, condemned the prospect of US tanks in Ukraine, describing the move as “one other blatant provocation against the Russian Federation.”
“If the US decides to supply tanks, it would not be possible to justify such a step with arguments about ‘defensive weapons'” he said on Telegram on Wednesdayadding that American tanks can be “destroyed [just like] all other samples of NATO military equipment.
“absurdity” and “failure”
Russia has repeatedly warned the West against sending tanks to Ukraine, claiming that they might be a legitimate goal for the Russian armed forces, like other NATO weapons, and would make the prospect of talks to end the war much more distant.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented at a Wednesday press briefing that “now we will only conclude that there aren’t any prospects for entering the diplomatic path at present.”
“Unfortunately, we see many expressions of conviction by many politicians, many experts, the military, etc., who consider that it is by continuing the war that the security of the continent will be ensured. This is an absurd belief,” Peskov said in comments translated by NBC News.
Asked about the possibility of sending the American Abrams to Ukraine, Peskov told reporters: “I’m sure that many experts also understand the absurdity of this concept. importantly, it is a transparent overestimation of the potential it would bring to the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” he said.
“But we now have already said that these tanks will burn identical to all the others,” Peskov said.