MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th May, 2023) Turkey's supplies of weapons and military equipment to Ukraine are not in line with Ankara's intentions to ensure ceasefire in the conflict and not suitable for the intermediary role, Yuri Pilipson, Director of the Fourth European Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Sputnik.
"Ankara has repeatedly expressed its intentions to ensure ceasefire in Ukraine as soon as possible and resume negotiation process with its own mediation. Of course, supplies of weapons and military equipment to the Kiev regime are contrary to such intentions and completely not in line with the intermediary role," the diplomat said.
Turkey has been supplying unmanned aerial vehicles Bayraktar TB2 to Ukraine since 2018. Last year, Ukrainian Ambassador to Turkey Vasyl Bondar said that the Turkish drone developer Baykar planned to build its factory in Ukraine and had already procured land for it. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that if the plant is built in Ukraine, the Russian military will consider it as a military target.
Moscow has condemned foreign military supplies to Ukraine. In April 2022, Russia sent a diplomatic note to all countries on the issue of arms supplies to Ukraine. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that any cargo, containing weapons for Ukraine, will become a legitimate target for Russia.
