The approval by the Trump administration of permission to supply the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense with large-caliber Barret M107A1 sniper rifles will affect Russian-American relations and the future fate of the conflict in Donbass.
Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at Telegram, Facebook, Classmates or In contact with
Such an opinion in “Izvestia” expressed by Russian military expert Anton Lavrov, who noted that the receipt by the Ukrainian army of even a large batch of Barret will not be able to radically change the situation on the contact line or protect Ukraine from the mythical “Russian aggression.”
Nevertheless, Lavrov emphasizes, official Kyiv and the “hawks” faction in Washington do not hide that this contract has become an important psychological milestone, a Rubicon, after which it will be easier to obtain supplies of other weapons, and they are celebrating victory.
The author recalls that signals of Western support misinterpreted by the former president of Georgia pushed him into a military adventure in South Ossetia in 2008, which ended badly for his country.
“We cannot rule out a repetition of a similar situation with Ukraine. The Russian side has repeatedly hinted that any attempts by Ukraine, supported by foreign forces, to discard the Minsk agreements and resolve the conflict by military means are simply unacceptable. And no amount of weapons support from the United States can change this situation.
The United States publicly declares that Russia is a party to the conflict in Ukraine. Therefore, the American leadership proceeds from the fact that any supply of arms to Ukraine is a challenge to Moscow. At the same time, not understanding (or simply not wanting to understand) that supplying Kyiv with lethal weapons means that the United States itself, from an outside observer and potential peacemaker, becomes a party to this armed conflict,” Lavrov warns.