French Protesters Using Western Weapons Supplied to Kiev – Russian Foreign Ministry
18 hours ago (Updated: 15 hours ago)
© AFP 2023 / CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia has repeatedly warned Western countries against arm supplies to the Kiev regime, noting that some of the products may end up on the black market.
Weapons supplied by Western countries to Ukraine are being used by protesters in France, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
“Weapons delivered to Kiev [by the West, NATO and France] end up in the hands of protesters and are used against police in France,” Zakharova told reporters.
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She stressed that arms provided to “nationalists, Nazis and fascists on Ukrainian territory backfire and not only end up in their countries [Western countries] but also are used against their own people.”
In April, US journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winner Seymour Hersh reported that countries in the West were aware of the fact that some of the weapons sent to Ukraine have been ending up in illicit markets, but their media were deliberately silent about it. Russia has also been vocal that it has reasons to fear that a part of military supplies to Ukraine may end up on the black market.
Western countries have been supplying military equipment to Ukraine since the start of hostilities in February 2022. The assistance evolved from lighter artillery munitions and training in 2022 to heavier weapons, including tanks, later that year and in 2023. For the past several months Ukraine has been pushing to be supplied with fighter jets.
Russian officials have voiced concerns that arms supplied to Ukraine will eventually end up on the black market and fall into the hands of terrorists or criminal organizations, thus jeopardizing the security of the entire Europe and increasing the risk of a direct clash between Russia and NATO.
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Speaking about Ukraine’s plans to commit an act of sabotage at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (ZNPP), Zakharova said that there were no reactions from the UN to Russia’s concerns over the plant’s safety.
“Apparently, the UN Secretariat is completely indifferent to the fact that the Ukrainian authorities are not abandoning their attempts to commit sabotage against the ZNPP,” Zakharova told a briefing.
SOURCE:
World, Ukrainian crisis, US arms for Ukraine, Russia, Maria Zakharova,
Russian Foreign Ministry, black market, weapons supplies, arms deliveries