The Group of Seven countries have announced security measures in Ukraine to prevent future Russian attacks, which Moscow has condemned.
Russia has warned Western powers not to give security guarantees to Ukraine, labeling this as a a terrible mistake which would affect Moscow and put Europe at great risk in the years to come.
The countries of the Group of Seven (G7) announced on Wednesday an international plan that paves the way to ensure long-term security in Ukraine to increase its protection against Russia and prevent Moscow from future aggression.
In a joint statement, which other countries can join, the United States, Germany, Japan, France, Canada, Italy and Britain, as well as the European Union, said that this includes modern technology, education, intelligence sharing and cyberdefense.
In return, Ukraine will pledge to improve governance, including judicial and economic reform and transparency.
“We consider this move very wrong and very dangerous,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in response to security assurances. “By providing any kind of security guarantees to Ukraine, these countries may be ignoring the international principle of security incompatibility. By giving assurances to Ukraine, it undermines the security of the Russian Federation. “
He added that Russia cannot tolerate anything that threatens its security, and hopes that the West will realize the seriousness of the decision.
Such a move “has very negative consequences in the short term, in the long term and in the short term,” Peskov said.
“By making such a decision, these countries will make Europe very dangerous for many years to come. And, of course, they will do us some stupid things, which we will think about and remember. [the] in the future.”
According to the British government, the G7 security guarantees showed how allies can help Ukraine in the coming years to end the war launched by Russia last year, “and prevent and respond to any attack”.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak admitted that the G7 pledge did not replace Ukraine’s membership NATO military alliance, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is insisting on.
At a two-day NATO summit in Lithuania that ends Wednesday, members were positive about Ukraine’s future membership, but he stopped short of giving time or formal orders to the contract.
After Zelenskyy and the head of NATO Jens Stoltenberg spoke to the press on Wednesday, Al Jazeera’s James Bays, reporting from the meeting in Vilnius, said: “If you listen to the real words of President Zelenskyy, he is still not happy with everything he received at the meeting.”
“He said there’s good news because we’re seeing a lot of support … in terms of military equipment in Ukraine.”
Former Russian ambassador Vyacheslav Matuzov told Al Jazeera that although Russia did not consider the NATO forces at its door as a serious problem, since the Scandinavian countries are already in the alliance, Moscow can show what is happening in the future to strengthen its security.