Turkey's Arms Transfer to Ukraine Poses Risks, Says Peskov

The Kremlin believes that Turkey's arms transfer to Ukraine carries the risk of later use against its own people, stated Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary for Russian President Vladimir Putin, as reported by RIA Novosti.

“Of course, this has been noted in the Kremlin. Our position regarding the transfer of such weaponry to Ukraine is well known, namely that it can be used by the Ukrainian armed forces against their own people, and this is well known in Turkey as well,” Peskov told reporters when asked whether they noticed that the Kremlin signed a contract to establish a training center for the modernization of Turkish offensive drones near Kyiv, and whether this issue was raised during the meeting between Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Sochi.

In response to a follow-up question about how the Turkish side reacted to Russia's concerns, Peskov emphasized that this should be asked to “the Turkish side.”

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and Turkish Bayraktar signed a memorandum the day before on the construction of a joint center for the maintenance and modernization of drones near Kyiv, according to a statement from the Ukrainian president's office.