Kremlin says ‘NATO and the US are indirectly involved’ in Ukraine war
Mike Brest
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A Kremlin official described the U.S. and NATO as “indirectly involved” in the war in Ukraine.
“Of course, NATO and the US are indirectly involved in the conflict,” Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, told reporters on Tuesday.
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“They have de facto become an indirect party to the conflict by flooding Ukraine with weapons, technologies, and intelligence. So their involvement in the conflict is clear.”
The comments fall in line with President Vladimir Putin’s frequent descriptions of the war as an existential battle against NATO and Western countries.
Similarly, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, whom Reuters described as having “major hard-line influences on Putin,” said the war is “not a clash between Moscow and Kyiv — this is a military confrontation between Russia and NATO, and above all, the United States and Britain.”
At the same time, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, signed the third Joint Declaration on NATO-European Union cooperation in light of the war.
“We recognize the value of a stronger and more capable European defense that contributes positively to global and trans-Atlantic security and is complementary to, and interoperable with NATO,” the declaration said.
“We must continue to strengthen the partnership between NATO and the European Union,” Stoltenberg said at a press conference. “And we must further strengthen our support to Ukraine.”
The U.S. and NATO allies have been hesitant to provide Ukraine with weapons they believe Moscow could view as escalatory, but have provided tens of billions of dollars of military aid despite those concerns.
The U.S. and Germany jointly announced last week that they will be sending infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. The administration announced a new military aid package worth nearly $4 billion on Friday that included 50 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, while Germany will provide its Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicle.
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Ukrainian troops are set to begin training on the Patriot missile system at Fort Sill in Oklahoma as soon as next week, which was announced in a recent aid package, according to CNN.
“These capabilities will complement and work with the expanded US-led training beginning this month that will build Ukraine’s capacity to conduct joint maneuver and combined operations. We will ensure Ukraine has both the equipment and the skilled forces necessary to sustain its efforts to push back on Russian aggression,” Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia, said last week.