Western Complicity in War Crimes Through Supplies to Kiev – Ryabkov

Geneva, March 2 – Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Thursday that the West is following a path of deliberate escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, supplying Kiev with all new heavy weapons, and therefore NATO countries are implicated in Kiev’s war crimes.

“It is Western countries that are following a course of deliberate escalation of the crisis in Ukraine, supplying Kiev with all kinds of new heavy weapons. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are actively using Western weapons in bombing residential buildings, schools and hospitals, killing civilians, and destroying civilian infrastructure. All these are war crimes, violations of international humanitarian law, NATO member states participate in it, whose representatives love to tell morals and talk hypocritically about human rights from the rostrum of the Human Rights Council, ”Ryabkov said during the meeting. High-level segment of the 52nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Russia has already sent a note to NATO countries over the supply of weapons to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has indicated that any shipment containing weapons to Ukraine would become a legitimate target for Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that NATO countries were “playing with fire” by supplying arms to Ukraine. The press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov, noted that the injection of weapons into Ukraine from the West does not contribute to the success of the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative impact. Lavrov stated that the United States and NATO are directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, “including not only the supply of weapons, but also the training of personnel … on the territory of Great Britain, Germany, Italy and other countries.”

Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin described his goal as “protecting people who have been bullied and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.” He pointed out that the special operation was a forced measure, leaving Russia no opportunity to do otherwise, as security risks arose such that it was impossible to respond by other means.