MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. Western countries continue to incite Ukraine to military action by imbuing the country with weapons, Deputy Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Information and Press Department Oleg Gavrilov said at a meeting of the Federation Council’s Ad Hoc Commission on Protecting State Sovereignty and Preventing Interference in the Domestic Affairs of the Russian Federation on Tuesday.
"This massive and brazen incitement towards a proxy war by the US, Canada and its European partners is carrying on unabated. Several countries from the Western camp have already announced plans to provide lethal weapons to those [in Ukraine] who are uncontrollably distributing them to the public at large and recruited criminals," he pointed out.
With that in mind, the Russian diplomat pointed to a statement by UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who had expressed support for British nationals who plan to go to fight in Ukraine. "This extremely irresponsible message is being echoed by a number of political and public figures in other countries," Gavrilov noted, adding: "All of this is taking place in the name of facilitating efforts to establish peace on Ukrainian soil."
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation based on a request from the heads of the Donbass republics. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans to occupy Ukrainian territories and the goal was to demilitarize and denazify the country. Russia’s Defense Ministry reported later that the Russian Armed Forces were not delivering strikes against Ukrainian cities. The ministry emphasized that the Ukrainian military infrastructure was being destroyed by precision weapons and there was no threat to civilians.