“If American tanks are sent to Ukraine, they will be destroyed.” The message is clear. In a Facebook post published last night, the Russian Embassy in the United States transcribed an interview given by Anatoly Antonov about the possible shipment of battle tanks from Washington to Kyiv. And the diplomat strongly criticizes this option.
For Anatoly Antonov, a delivery of tanks would represent a new “obvious provocation against the Russian Federation”.
“Washington is deliberately trying to inflict a strategic defeat on us”
“If the US decides to hand over tanks, then justifying this choice by invoking the ‘defensive weapons’ argument will not work,” he warns.
“It is evident that Washington is deliberately trying to inflict a strategic defeat on us,” denounces the ambassador, who affirms that this delivery could be a precondition for attacks in Crimea by the Ukrainian army.
But Anatoly Antonov trusts Vladimir Putin’s army: “If the decision is made to transfer the M1 Abrams to Kyiv, the American tanks will certainly be destroyed like all other NATO military equipment.”
The United States is not ready to supply Ukraine with its most advanced heavy tanks, Abrams, a senior Pentagon official said last week, justifying the refusal with maintenance and training issues. But on Tuesday, two officials told the Reuters news agency that Washington may change its mind.
The US decision to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine could lead a hitherto reluctant Germany to in turn authorize the supply of German-made Leopard 2 heavy tanks by third countries to the Ukrainian military.
Source: BFM TV
