Russian Politician Believes the United States is Putting Civilians in Danger By Continuing Russo-Ukrainian Conflict
Jose Nino
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On July 7, 2023, Russian elected official Leonid Slutsky said that the United States government’s decision to send cluster bombs to Ukraine shows American authorities are more focused on preventing Russia from winning than protecting civilians’ lives.
“The White House’s reasoning behind the decision to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine is the height of cynicism and simply monstrous. The war unleashed by the West against Russia will indeed go on until the last Ukrainian,” s the elected official stated.
Slutsky is the chairman of the Committee on International Affairs at the State Duma, the Russian parliament’s lower house.
In addition, Slutsky said, “Washington is more concerned about preventing Russia from winning the Ukrainian conflict than it is about the damage to civilians in Ukraine from cluster bombs and shells, which is imminent but yet only collateral for the US.”
Slutsky added. He continued by noting that this issue should be brought before the UN Security Council.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on July 7 said that the US had decided to send Ukraine cluster munitions, despite the United Nations’ opposition to the use of cluster bombs. He also called attention to how Ukraine had provided US authorities with written guarantees that US cluster munitions will be used in a way that does not generate excessive civilian casualties.
Farhan Haq, a deputy spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, previously said that the UN chief supports the Convention on Cluster Munitions and stands against the use of this type of weapons on the Ukrainian battlefield.
The Convention on Cluster Munitions was adopted in 2008. Thus far, 111 countries have joined the convention, and additional 12 have signed on to the convention but still haven’t ratified it.
While Russia’s actions in Ukraine are reprehensible, the US’s continued military aid to Ukraine does not help matters. In fact, it actually makes the situation in Ukraine even worse as it escalates further tension with Russia, thereby compelling it to take more aggressive military measures against Ukraine that could eventually lead to its dismemberment in the long-term.
In this instance, peace can only be achieved if the West stops sending military aid to Ukraine and instead starts to aim for a negotiated peace.
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