Russian President Vladimir Putin today warned Israel against a potential sale of offensive weapons to Ukraine, saying such a move would be “counterproductive” to international efforts to maintain the Ukrainian civil war ceasefire.
Details of the potential weapons shipments are scant, centering around reports at the start of last week that Israel was threatening Russia with such shipments in retaliation for the potential sale of S-300 defensive missiles to Iran.
Before that there wasn’t much indication Ukraine was even seeking to buy arms from Israel, and indeed the virtually bankrupt Ukrainian government isn’t in a good position to buy anything.
Ukraine, like most former Soviet states, is awash in Cold War-era weapons, and while it’s constantly looking for packing in its civil war against the ethnic Russian east, it doesn’t seem like Israeli arms sales would change the situation at all.
