Facts indicate NATO involved in Kiev attacks on Russia: Official

By Al Mayadeen English

A Russian official says the US and its allies have long been actively using various space systems for reconnaissance and information support for Ukraine.

Facts indicate that NATO members are involved in Kiev's attacks against Russian airfields, Konstantin Gavrilov, the head of the Russian delegation at the military security and arms control talks in Vienna, told Sputnik on Thursday.

"The Russian side has repeatedly pointed out that the United States and its satellites were becoming more and more fixed in the status of participants in the Ukrainian conflict," he noted.

The Russian official said that "facts indicate that NATO member countries really had a hand in Kiev's terrorist provocations against Russian strategic airfields Dyagilevo and Engels with the use of two Soviet-era reactive strike drones Tu-141 Strizh."

According to Gavrilov, Kiev "actually had a publicly announced order to carry out this perfidious provocation," recalling the statement of the Latvian Foreign Minister on November 30 during the NATO Council that "possible Ukrainian strikes on military targets deep in Russia's territory would be justified."

"Of course, our army does not leave such terrorist acts unpunished," the head of the delegation stressed.

Read more: Satellites used against Russia may become legitimate targets: Ministry

Drone for strike attempt at Russia modernized with US participation

In the same context, Gavrilov revealed to Sputnik that the drone used by Ukraine to attempt an attack on two Russian military airfields was modernized with the participation of a corporation from the United States.

On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that Ukraine launched an attack on Russian military airfields in the Saratov and Ryazan regions using Soviet-made jet drones.

According to Moscow, its air defense systems intercepted the drones, but their fragments killed three servicemen and wounded four others.

"Firstly, during 2022, the Kharkiv Aviation Plant carried out work to modernize the mentioned UAVs with the participation of specialists from the Kiev Design Bureau Luch and US corporation Raytheon Technologies. The range of this drone is up to 1000 kilometers. It is clear in which direction it was planned to be used," Gavrilov revealed.

The Russian diplomat pointed out that "it is well known that the overwhelming majority of targets targeted by neo-Nazis are determined by the Western masters of the Kiev regime," adding that "the aforementioned Tu-141 Strizh UAVs are aimed at the target using US global satellite system GPS."

According to Gavrilov, "The United States and its allies have long been actively using various space systems for reconnaissance and information support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including for the purpose of discovering places of deployment, routes of movement and actions of Russian troops."

"In Ukraine, in real combat conditions, new methods are being developed for the use of civilian satellite constellations as an element of command of the US Armed Forces," he noted.

The head of the Russian delegation considered that "NATO members are not at all worried that this could provoke significant risks for peaceful space activities and shake its international legal foundations."

In late November, Vladimir Ermakov, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's non-proliferation and arms control department, warned that quasi-civilian satellites used by Western countries to support the Ukrainian military throughout the conflict might become legitimate targets for Russia.