Russia raises threat tone and says conflict with the West is “almost a real war”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that the conflict between Moscow and the West can no longer be defined as a “hybrid war” but is closer to a real war, as he criticized the West for sending billions of dollars worth of weapons to Kiev.

Lavrov also stated that Ukraine is rejecting peace talks and the longer this continues, the harder it will be to resolve the conflict.

Russia has repeatedly said it is open to negotiations, but Ukraine and the United States say they see no sign from Moscow that the remarks are serious and suspect the country is trying to buy time to regroup after a string of defeats in Russia. war.

“The more they (Ukrainians) refuse, the more difficult it will be to find a solution,” Lavrov told a news conference during a visit to South Africa.

Also on Monday, the Kremlin said the Ukrainian people would suffer if the West sent tanks to support Kiev, while the question of whether to send German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine remained undecided.

The United States and its allies failed during talks in Germany last week to convince Berlin to supply its Leopard main battle tanks to Ukraine, a key demand by Kiev as it seeks to give new impetus to its fight against the forces Russian.

Berlin said that, if a consensus could be reached, it would allow allies to transfer Leopards from their own stockpiles to Ukraine. But even this situation remained inconclusive.

Asked about the issue by journalists, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said divisions in Europe over supplying Kiev with tanks showed there was growing “nervousness” within the Western military alliance North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO).

“But it is clear that all countries that participate, directly or indirectly, in sending weapons to Ukraine and raising its technological level are responsible (for the continuation of the conflict),” added Peskov.

“The main thing is that it is the Ukrainian people who will pay the price for all this pseudo-support,” he said.

Earlier on Monday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said his country could send Leopard tanks to Ukraine as part of a coalition of countries, even without Germany’s permission.

Germany would not stand in the way if Poland sent its German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, added German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Sunday (22) in an interview with French television channel LCI .