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OPINION: US Non-Lethal Aid to Ukraine Foreshadows Military Assistance

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A US government pledge of $8 million in non-lethal military aid to Ukraine is a precursor of expanded military aid in the future, journalist and publisher Dr. Marcus Papadopoulos told RIA Novosti Wednesday.

MOSCOW, April 23 (RIA Novosti), Nikita Alentyev – A US government pledge of $8 million in non-lethal military aid to Ukraine is a precursor of expanded military aid in the future, journalist and publisher Dr. Marcus Papadopoulos told RIA Novosti Wednesday.

“Non-lethal aid is a precursor to Washington providing lethal aid to its proxies,” Papadopoulos said.

“That pattern was seen in the former Yugoslavia (Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo), in Libya and is currently happening in Syria, with devastating consequences for the Syrian people,” Papadopoulos told RIA Novosti, adding the aid is “a worrying development in the Ukraine crisis, though not an unexpected one.”

The key question surrounding the issue of non-lethal military aid is the purpose of such funding. A memo received by RIA Novosti from the office of US Vice President Joseph Biden said the money would primarily be spent on “engineering equipment, communications equipment, vehicles, and non-lethal individual tactical gear.”

Although non-lethal in nature, this equipment may serve a very different purpose, counter to Western calls for a peaceful resolution to the crisis in the region.

"Any supply of ‘non-lethal aid’ by the US to Kiev will undoubtedly be used by the latter as part of a military campaign against protesters in the east and south of Ukraine, who want nothing more than to live in a country free of the extremists currently governing the country,” Papadopoulos said.

“And should Kiev launch such a campaign, it will, undoubtedly, result in a bloodbath and lay the ground for a civil war in Ukraine,” he added, explaining that non-lethal aid is simply a term for “logistical equipment, which, of course, is an essential element in prosecuting military campaigns.”

The more concerning development is the prospective potential supply of actual military aid to Kiev’s interim government. The US has never shied away from putting weapons into the hands of organizations that might assist Washington in reaching its geopolitical goals, Papadopoulos said.

“Furthermore, in the event of a civil war in Ukraine, the US, judging by its track record, will eventually start providing lethal aid to Kiev, which would be catastrophic for Ukraine,” he said.

“The ghosts of Yugoslavia, Libya and Syria are starting to appear over Ukraine," he said, adding Ukraine is now on the brink of an “abyss” as the US has ignored the country’s shared history with Russia while trying to “pull the country into the West's orbit and thereby into the European Union and NATO.”

Washington will provide Ukraine with a new $50 million aid package to help with economic and political reforms, the White House said Tuesday. The United States also offered an additional $8 million in non-lethal military assistance, including radios and vehicles.

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