Russia on Wednesday condemned what it called Poland’s “reckless” proposal to send international peacekeepers to join Ukraine and warned that it could lead to a direct clash between the Russians and NATO forces.
Last Friday, Poland said it would formally submit its proposal for a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine at the next NATO summit.
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Asked about the initiative, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “It would be a very reckless and extremely dangerous decision.”
He told reporters during a conference call that any possible contact between Russian and NATO forces “could have obvious consequences that are hard to repair”.
Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24 in what it called a special operation aimed at degrading its southern neighbor’s military capabilities and eliminating what it called “soldiers”. dangerous nationalist.
Ukrainian forces have resisted fiercely and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an attempt to force the country to withdraw its forces.
Speaking in Kyiv last week, the leader of Poland’s ruling party Jaroslaw Kaczynski said: “I think there should be a peaceful mission – NATO, maybe a broader international structure – but a mission self-defense mission, will operate on the territory of Ukraine. ”
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also attacked the proposal in remarks to staff and students at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations on Wednesday.
“This will be a direct clash between the Russian armed forces and NATO that people are not only trying to avoid, but also think should not be happening in principle,” he said.
