ANKARA
Russia is “very concerned” over reports that the United States is planning to provide advanced weaponry to Kiev, Kremlin foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Friday.
"Reports of the U.S.’ intentions to supply Kiev with advanced arms, either directly or indirectly, is a cause of great concern," Lukashevich told a press briefing, claiming that this would be permitted by the Ukraine Freedom Support Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 2014.
Signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama, the act allows the U.S. government to provide lethal arms to Ukraine.
Lukashevich also said that joint Ukraine-U.S. joint military training in Ukraine just "throws fuel on the fire."
About 300 U.S. paratroopers and three battalions of Ukrainian national guard forces began a six-month operation – dubbed Fearless Guardian – on Monday.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko claimed in a speech at the International Peacekeeping and Security Center in Yavoriv near the Polish border that the mission "should facilitate the establishment of peace."
Moscow and pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine say the U.S.' presence destabilizes the situation and violates the Minsk cease-fire agreement agreed between Kiev and separatists in February, which involved the pullout of heavy weapons and political reforms in the eastern regions.
More than 6,000 people have lost their lives in the conflict between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists since April 2014, according to the United Nations.
