Russia: Moscow’s threats to West and Ukraine – “Catastrophic consequences” if Kiev moves against Belarus

Russia contiguous warned the West and Ukraine of “catastrophic consequences” if Kiev moves against Russia’s adjacent state Belarus, making wide it volition intervene to support a state successful which it has regularly deployed atomic weapons.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that Moscow was acrophobic astir what she described arsenic progressively “provocative” enactment connected the borderline with Belarus, noting that she did not regularisation retired that determination could beryllium attempts astatine escalation successful the region.

Days aft Ukraine’s astonishment August 6 cross-border onslaught connected Russia’s Kursk region, Belarusian person Alexander Lukashenko – a staunch state of Russian President Vladimir Putin – said, without providing details, that Kiev whitethorn beryllium considering attacking Belarus.

Later, Minsk, which has accused Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) of violating its airspace, said it was sending further troops to its borderline with Ukraine, though Kiev noted that it had not detected immoderate large changes successful the borderline region.

“We instrumentality owed relationship of the accusation we received astir the intensification of the activities of Ukrainian forces successful the borderline zone,” Zakharova noted.

“We spot these events ourselves and are alert of changeless attempts by the Ukrainian broadside to usage drones and nonstop terrorists into the republic,” she added.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said past period that the state “has ne'er taken and volition ne'er instrumentality immoderate hostile actions against the Belarusian people.”

In an explicit notation to the Ukrainian onslaught successful Kursk, Zakharova noted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had shown himself susceptible of what she called “reckless steps”, accusing him of coordinating with Washington up of the November US statesmanlike election.

“Therefore, according to this logic, we bash not exclude the anticipation that these destructive forces could acceptable successful question and escalate the concern successful the region,” the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman stressed.

Russia and Belarus are portion of a “Union State” and person undertaken to jointly support their communal borders, Zakharova besides stressed, noting that a associated determination subject radical has been deployed successful Belarus on with Russian tactical atomic weapons.

“The applicable implementation of immoderate scenarios assertive towards Minsk volition person disastrous consequences not lone for Ukraine, but besides for its sponsors,” she concluded.