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| Lavrov: Stoltenberg exceeded his authority when speaking about strikes on Russian territory |
| 2024-05-28 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [Regnum] NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg does not have the right to make statements on behalf of all members of the alliance on an issue that has not been submitted for general discussion. This was stated on May 27 by the head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, commenting on the words of the NATO Secretary General about attacks on Russia by Western weapons. “I doubt that the Secretary General can take on such responsibility and speak on behalf of the members of the bloc when this topic was not discussed with them within NATO,” Izvestia quotes the minister. Lavrov recalled that some members of the bloc have already expressed disagreement with the statement of the NATO Secretary General. Thus, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called on Stoltenberg to be careful in his statements. As Regnum reported, on May 27, the NATO Secretary General again proposed allowing Ukraine to fire Western weapons at targets on Russian territory. He said that such strikes in the context of the offensive of Russian troops near Kharkov can be considered as self-defense. He had previously suggested that Western allies consider whether they should lift some restrictions they had placed on the use of weapons transferred to Ukraine. Stoltenberg's remarks were condemned by the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of Italy, Matteo Salvini. He said that after such words, Stoltenberg should apologize or leave his post. The Italian minister was outraged by the idea that Ukraine would be allowed to use weapons for defense in battles outside its territory. On May 26, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz refused to allow Ukraine to fire Western weapons at Russia. According to the politician, from the very beginning of the supply of German weapons to Kyiv, rules for the use of these weapons were developed and agreed upon with Ukraine. Germany provides support to the Kyiv regime, including military support, but does not want the conflict in Ukraine to escalate into a “big war,” the chancellor added. The official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, noted that Russia will not leave encroachments on its territory unanswered. Western countries, by providing long-range missiles and heavy weapons and giving the go-ahead for their use against Russia, contributed to the escalation of the conflict, Zakharova added. Previously, Lavrov said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are already using weapons provided by the United States and other Western countries to attack civilian targets in Russia outside the conflict zone. He emphasized that in most cases, civilian infrastructure and residential areas are hit. Thus, on May 24, Russian air defense systems destroyed an anti-radar missile HARM fired by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) over the territory of the Belgorod region. On the same day, the Russian military shot down three American-made ATACMS operational-tactical missiles over Crimea on the night of May 24. More from regnum.ru Peskov says that NATO is already in direct confrontation with Russia Today, NATO is actually directly involved in the conflict and is in direct confrontation with Russia. This was stated on May 27 by the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov, commenting on statements by Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg about Ukrainian Armed Forces striking NATO weapons on Russian territory. Peskov said that NATO is already in direct confrontation with Russia “NATO is involved in this conflict, directly involved in the conflict... But our military also knows what to do, they are continuing a special military operation to stop all threats,” he said in an interview with Izvestia. Peskov noted that the secretary general of the alliance in this case cannot express a personal opinion, since he is in a responsible position. The Kremlin representative noted that the alliance is thus increasing the degree of escalation, flirting with belligerent rhetoric and falling into “military ecstasy.” “This is the reality we need to continue to deal with,” he added. According to Peskov, today NATO is actually already in direct confrontation with Russia. “They are not getting close, they are in it [the confrontation],” he clarified in response to a corresponding question. As Regnum reported, earlier on May 27, the NATO Secretary General again proposed allowing Kiev to fire Western weapons at targets on Russian territory. According to Stoltenberg, such actions can allegedly be considered self-defense. Prior to this, on May 25, the secretary general of the alliance called on Kiev’s Western allies to lift the current restrictions for the Ukrainian Armed Forces on strikes with alliance weapons on Russian territory. At the same time, Stoltenberg admitted that the Russian military will continue the offensive, which is why Kyiv is already experiencing difficulties. A group of US congressmen from both parties on May 21 called on the Pentagon to “allow” Ukraine to strike Russian territory with American weapons. According to congressmen, the Ukrainian Armed Forces can allegedly carry out such strikes against strategic targets and under certain circumstances. |
| Posted by:badanov |