Former Deputy Secretary General of NATO: there is substantial evidence that Russia is fighting in the Donbas
There are many Russian tanks without identifying information in the uncontrolled territories in the Donbas, and NATO is aware of this, as stated on Wednesday, February 14th, on Echo of Moscow radio by the former Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Alexander Vershbow.
He noted that although there are "a lot of tanks in the Donbas that do not have Russian markings, but we are aware of where they come from."
Also, NATO knows about the Russian military, who are in the Donbas.
"In fact, we are talking about a combination of Russian senior officers, generals, and military personnel, volunteers who are veterans of many wars and who are already seasoned in battle and local recruits, which overall, unfortunately, are a very good force. Now even the Wagner private company fights there," Vershbow says.
According to him, Russia is trying to say that there are only local forces in the Donbas.
"From open sources, from selfies, from social networks, there is a lot of evidence that Russia is participating, and even official ceremonies when Putin awards medals to generals who allegedly were born in Luhansk. Therefore, from the legal point of view, no matter how you mask it, is still an aggression," the US diplomat said.
He also adds that "one of the great successes of Russian propaganda" is that it was able to convince some in the West that this conflict is a consequence of internal confrontation and internal problems.
"This war would have ended long ago if Russia had not supported the separatists with its military command and armament, and if you look at the places that were liberated from the separatists, for example, Sloviansk, there are different groups of people peacefully coexisting with each other there. Therefore, reconciliation is possible, and the conflict has been dragging on for 4 years mainly due to Russian aggression. First of all, we need to be honest with each other," Alexander Vershbow summarized.
Earlier, Kurt Volker said that the US will help to end the war in the Donbas. It was previously reported that the US State Department directly accused Moscow of non-compliance with the Minsk Agreements.