West’s weapons for Kyiv will lead to global catastrophe, Putin ally says

Melbourne — A close ally of President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that deliveries of offensive weapons to Kyiv that threaten Russia’s territories will lead to a global catastrophe and make arguments against using weapons of mass destruction untenable.

Vyacheslav Volodin, chair of the Duma — Russia’s lower house of parliament — warned that the US and Nato’s support of Ukraine is leading the world to a “terrible war”.

“If Washington and Nato countries supply weapons that will be used to strike civilian cities and attempt to seize our territories, as they threaten, this will lead to retaliatory measures using more powerful weapons,” Volodin said on the Telegram messaging app.

“Arguments that the nuclear powers have not previously used weapons of mass destruction in local conflicts are untenable. Because these states did not face a situation where there was a threat to the security of their citizens and the territorial integrity of the country.”

Western allies pledged billions of dollars in weapons for Ukraine last week, though they failed to persuade Germany to lift a veto on providing German-made Leopard battle tanks, which are held by an array of Nato nations but whose transfer to Ukraine requires Berlin's approval.

Since its invasion on February 24 last year, which it has cast as defending itself from an aggressive West, Russia has taken control of parts of Ukraine and has said it will never return them. Kyiv has said that restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity is not open for negotiation.

Volodin’s comments followed a similar threat last week by Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former prime minister and president.

Volodin, 58, has been speaker of the lower house, the state Duma, since 2016, having previously held a senior role in the presidential administration. As a member of Putin’s Security Council, he has regular access to the president.

“Deliveries of offensive weapons to the Kyiv regime will lead to a global catastrophe,” he said.

At the same time the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania made a joint call to Germany on Saturday to step up its leadership and send battle tanks to Ukraine, putting further pressure on Berlin to move faster on aiding Kyiv.

“We, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania foreign ministers, call on Germany to provide Leopard tanks to Ukraine now,” Estonia's foreign minister said on Twitter. “This is needed to stop Russian aggression, help Ukraine and restore peace in Europe quickly. Germany as the leading European power has special responsibility in this regard.”

The statement came a day after Germany and Western allies reached no decision on whether Berlin would agree to send its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine or permit other countries that have them to do so.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has raised concerns in the Baltic states — all Nato members that restored their independence after decades of Soviet rule in 1991 — that they could also come under an attack from Moscow.

Russia in recent days has increased shelling of Ukraine’s eastern regions outside the main front line in Donbas, with Russia’s defence ministry saying on Saturday its offensive in the Zaporizhzhia region had put its army's units in more advantageous positions.

Germany’s new defence minister Boris Pistorius said on Saturday he plans to visit Ukraine “quickly”, adding that Berlin is in “close dialogue” on the issue of tanks with the US and other international partners.  

Reuters