Russias foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said in an interview with state-run RT TV on the 18th that suspicious cargo transported within Ukraines territory would be a target for Russian troops to attack.
Lavrov said one of the objectives of the Ukrainian military operation launched last month is to eradicate a threat to Russia from Ukraine, adding that “Russia will not allow the West to further arm Ukraine.”
He also warned that “all such cargo within the territory of Ukraine will be a legal target”.
In response to Ukraines request to the West to provide Russian-made S-300 air defense missiles, he said, “The West must not deliver Soviet-made or Russian-made air defense systems to Ukraine. I am not doing it,” he claimed.
Slovakias defense ministry, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, announced on the 16th that Ukraine could provide the S-300 air defense missiles that Ukraine has been requesting from the West, including the United States.
However, instead of providing Ukraine with the S-300 system, the U.S. has given the proviso that it wants to supplement itself with a similar anti-aircraft defense system.
The S-300 is a surface-to-air missile developed by the former Soviet Union, capable of flying hundreds of kilometers to intercept not only fighters but also cruise missiles.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin presided over a national security meeting that day and discussed the situation in Ukraine and the current international situation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
[Photo source: TAS = Yonhap News]
