Moscow: U.S. military assistance to Kiev will undermine Minsk process

Moscow has criticized the U.S. Senate’s bill allowing the United States to provide military assistance to Ukraine.

“If ratified by President Barack Obama, this law will undermine the Minsk process,” says Chairman of the State Duma Committee on the CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Ties with Compatriots Leonid Slutsky.

“If Obama does this, he will once again show the world who is who. Obviously, the Americans do not need peace in Ukraine. They need a trouble spot near Russia’s borders,” Slutsky says.

Deputy Chairman of the International Affairs Committee Leonid Kalashnikov shares Slutsky’s opinion. “If the U.S. arms are given to the Ukrainian nationalists, Ukraine will explode. Even though the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are different, they both are based on a similar template. Armed by the Americans, radical forces turn into terrorist groups like ISIL. The same may happen in Ukraine,” Kalashnikov says.

Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Defense and Security Committee Frants Klintsevich says that the U.S. bill is contrary to the Minsk process.

As EADaily reported earlier, on Oct 8 the U.S. Senate adopted a defense authorization bill for 2016, which authorizes $300mn security and reconnaissance aid to Ukraine.