Over 2,500 foreign mercenaries fighting for Ukraine – Shoigu – RT Russia and the former Soviet Union
Russian Defense Minister says Western countries are trying to prolong and escalate the conflict
Western countries force kyiv to show tactical successes on the battlefield, regardless of the cost in human lives and “pumping” the country full of weapons and fighters, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.
Speaking at a meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Minsk on Thursday, the Russian minister said the value of military-technical assistance from the West in Kiev had already exceeded 65 billion dollars and more than 2,500 foreign mercenaries. are currently participating in military operations in the country.
He also claimed that kyiv’s tactics have evolved to include terrorist confrontational methods, including sabotage and high-profile killings.
“The most tense situation today has developed in the Eastern European region. The West is forcing the Kiev regime, regardless of the losses, to show tactical successes and its willingness to fight “to the last Ukrainian” and pump it out with weapons,” Shoigu said.
He claimed this would only lead to further escalation and prolong the conflict. Shoigu suggested that this was done intentionally and that NATO used the Ukraine crisis as an excuse to build up its military capabilities and modernize its infrastructure in Central and Eastern Europe.
Shoigu claimed that the United States and its allies intentionally create hotbeds of tension and provoke crises near the borders of CSTO members, resulting in a “extremely unstable” military-political situation in these regions. The minister accused the West of providing support to terrorist and extremist structures, and also of using sanctions, threats and blackmail to achieve their goals of destabilizing the region.
Thursday, Shoigu also spoke with his Belarusian counterpart Viktor Khrenin. During their meeting, he explained that the West was conducting a “undeclared war” against Russia and Belarus and that NATO’s military activity had taken a “most aggressive direction”.
In response to the West “increasingly aggressive rhetoric” and joint “nuclear missions” which involve exercises to deploy weapons of mass destruction, Moscow and Minsk formally signed a nuclear weapons agreement on Thursday, authorizing the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus.
Shoigu explained that arms control remained in the hands of Moscow, but noted that “additional measures” could be taken in the future in order to ensure the security of the united state of Russia and Belarus.
RT
