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Top Palestinian Diplomat Warns NATO Contributing to Spillover From Ukraine Conflict

RAMALLAH (Sputnik) - Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki says he fears that by supplying Ukraine with heavier and more advanced weapons, NATO is wading deeper into the conflict with Russia, which is raising the stakes for the whole world.
Sputnik
"I do see that NATO is becoming much closer to intervening in the conflict, the way that they are behaving by providing weapon supplies," the diplomat told Sputnik in an interview.
Al-Maliki pointed to the recent pledges of several NATO member states to supply Ukraine with Abrams and Leopard 2 main battle tanks as well as Ukraine lobbying for deliveries of F-16 fighter jets.
"This really will take us into a different level of confrontation. And I believe that because of the level of confrontation, the area of confrontation won't be limited to eastern Ukraine, but it could also expand to other places," the minister warned.
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Al-Maliki said he hoped that NATO would reconsider its involvement and suggested that a summit could determine the "red lines" that the conflict should not cross in order to prevent it from spilling over.
"Because if these red lines are really being crossed, then the danger will spill over to the whole planet. Maybe I'm very skeptical, but I'm really worried about how the situation has been escalating just recently," he said.
Russia has repeatedly warned NATO against funneling heavy weapons to Ukraine, which says it wants to use NATO-supplied long-range missiles to strike deep into the Russian territory, including at the Crimean Peninsula. Russia has warned of a tough response.
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