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Anti-Russian sanctions

Czech Republic speaks out against supplies of weaponry to Ukraine

They believe that Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko’s appeal to NATO countries to supply weaponry does not facilitate peace settlement of the crisis in Ukraine

PRAGUE, February 5. /TASS/. Czech Republic does not plan to supply weapons to Ukraine and it speaks against any such supplies from the West, Czech Defence Minister Martin Stropnicky and Foreign Minister Ljubomir Zaoralek told reporters on Thursday.

They believe that Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko’s appeal to NATO countries to supply weaponry does not facilitate peace settlement of the crisis in Ukraine.

Like some other member-states of NATO, the Czech Republic is not considering a possibility of arms deliveries to Ukraine, said Stropnicky who had taken part in a conference of NATO’s Defence Ministers in Brussels.

He indicated that this country would abide by the general line taken by the North-Atlantic pact. This line suggests that NATO as an organization will not supply lethal armaments to Ukraine.

Ljubomir Zaoralek turned down Poroshenko’s call resolutely, calling it a play with fire and a very dangerous idea.

Some people might be thinking that the current situation was less dangerous than in the years of the Cold War but he thought in the meantime that it was even riskier than during the Cold War era.

Zaoralek pointed out a totally unpredictable character of developments in Ukraine. He indicated that while the two camps involved in the Cold War had maintained contacts and had tried to untangle critical situations through a search for compromises, the parties to the conflict in Ukraine were displaying total unwillingness to abide by that practice.

He also made a reminder of Russia’s nuclear potential and its status of a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

For Europe, the crisis in Ukraine is the most cumbersome problem to be resolved and the deliveries of weaponry there could jeopardize the situation further, Zaoralek said.

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