Moscow says it will respond diplomatically if U.S.arms Ukraine:
The head of the Kremlin’s Security Council says that if the United States decides to supply weapons to Ukraine, Russia will most likely respond "diplomatically" rather than with military action.
Nikolai Patrushev was quoted by Russia’s state-run TASS news agency on February 10 as saying that U.S. weapons shipments to Ukrainian government forces would "be a further escalation of the conflict" in eastern Ukraine.
But asked about possible military retaliation by Russia if U.S. weapons deliveries are made, Patrushev said: "No, I think we will act diplomatically."
The United States, NATO, the European Union, and Kyiv have accused Russia of deploying troops and heavy weaponry into eastern Ukraine to support pro-Russian separatists there.
Despite growing evidence to support those allegations, President Vladimir Putin continues to deny that Russian forces and weaponry have been sent into eastern Ukraine. (Reuters, TASS, Interfax)