VIENNA, December 14. /TASS/. EU members of NATO should think hard about the tragic consequences that would result from allowing Ukraine to use their air bases for F-16 fighter jet sorties, said Alexander Volgaryov, Russia's deputy envoy to the OSCE.
"In desperate attempts to delay the complete defeat of the Ukrainian armed forces, NATO has entertained the idea of formally transferring F-16 tactical fighter jets to the Kiev regime but actually basing them at airfields of NATO member countries that border Ukraine so they make their combat sorties from those locations," he said at a meeting of the organization's Permanent Council. "NATO’s European member countries should now start thinking about what tragic consequences for pan-European security could result from ill-considered moves to use combat tactical aviation."
According to the diplomat, if these fighter jets take off from the territory of NATO member countries and are used in the Ukrainian conflict, Moscow will regard this as a conscious step toward escalation and "de facto direct participation in the armed confrontation."
"We underscore that this will force Russia to take effective retaliatory measures," the diplomat warned.