MOSCOW, July 4 (RIA Novosti) – NATO is sending Ukraine arms and military equipment from East European countries which is in the interest of US military-industrial complex, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Friday.
“As big part of the armament and military equipment of Ukraine is defective, NATO decided to send the military equipment from Eastern Europe [to Ukraine]. It concerns the arms produced in the Soviet Republic. In turn, the US will compensate [NATO's new members] for these 'losses'. The US military-industrial complex is happy,” Rogozin wrote on his Twitter page.
In March, Ukraine presented NATO a list of military equipment, needed by the country. Former Acting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrei Deshchytsia then said that Kiev didn’t mean weapons.
Earlier, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that the alliance itself does not possess the equipment, but it can be provided by NATO member countries.
Due to the ongoing political crisis in Ukraine, NATO introduced several measures explained by the need to ensure the security of its allies. Baltic Air Policing missions have intensified and additional NATO ships have been sent to the Baltic and the Mediterranean seas. NATO also declared an increase in permanent troop deployment, expansion of training programs, strengthening of early warning systems and improving the capacity of response forces.
Russian Ambassador to NATO Alexander Grushko suggested that the alliance "is trying to use to its maximum the crisis in Ukraine in order to prove its relevance in the current security environment."
