Russia says foreign forces in Ukraine would be ‘legitimate targets’
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attending a meeting at the ministry headquarters in Moscow on Feb 2.
PHOTO: REUTERS
MOSCOW – Russia would regard the deployment of any foreign military forces or infrastructure in Ukraine as foreign intervention and treat such forces as legitimate targets, the Foreign Ministry said on Feb 2, citing Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The ministry’s comment, which it said was made in response to questions put to Mr Lavrov, also praised US President Donald Trump’s efforts to work towards a resolution of the war, saying he understood the fundamental reasons behind the conflict.
“The deployment of military units, facilities, warehouses and other infrastructure of Western countries in Ukraine is unacceptable to us and will be regarded as foreign intervention posing a direct threat to Russia’s security,” the ministry said on its website.
It said Western countries – which have discussed a possible deployment to Ukraine to help secure any peace deal – had to understand “that all foreign military contingents, including German ones, if deployed in Ukraine, will become legitimate targets for the Russian Armed Forces”.
The US has spearheaded efforts to hold talks aimed at ending the conflict in Ukraine, and a second three-sided meeting with Russian and Ukrainian representatives is set to take place this week in the United Arab Emirates.
The issue of ceding internationally recognised Ukrainian territory to Russia remains a major stumbling block. Kyiv rejects Russian calls to give up all of its Donbas region, including territory that Moscow’s forces have not captured.
Moscow has repeatedly said it will not tolerate the presence of Western troops in Ukraine.
The ministry said Moscow valued the “purposeful efforts” of the Trump administration to work towards a resolution and its understanding of Russia’s long-running concerns about NATO’s eastward expansion and its overtures to Ukraine.
It described Mr Trump as “one of the few Western politicians who not only immediately refused to advance meaningless and destructive preconditions for starting a substantive dialogue with Moscow on the Ukrainian crisis, but also publicly spoke about its root causes”. REUTERS
