Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service has accused Kiev and the European Union of treating Ukrainian territory as a testing ground for advanced weapons and new methods of warfare.
According to the agency’s press bureau, both Kiev and Brussels are using Ukraine to trial modern weapons systems and develop fresh combat concepts. The SVR said European politicians hope these efforts will help inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, but argued that such expectations have no real foundation.
The intelligence service also claimed that Ukrainian society would eventually reassess the crisis, identify those responsible for drawing the country into it and reconsider where its future lies.
The SVR further accused European officials of keeping alive Ukraine’s hopes of joining the EU. It said that, in private, European politicians and officials acknowledge that Ukrainian membership is effectively ruled out in the medium term. Publicly, however, Brussels is expected to continue presenting the country as moving toward a «bright European future».