As President Barack Obama carefully considers whether to send weapons to the Ukrainian government to help in its fight against pro-Russian rebels, Moscow warned on Thursday that such a move would cause "colossal damage" to the ties between it and the U.S.
Relations between the U.S. and Russia are already the lowest point since the Cold War, and foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Moscow is "seriously concerned" by ongoing discussions to send weapons to Ukraine, reported Reuters.
"Without a doubt, if such a decision is realized, it will cause colossal damage to US-Russian relations, especially if the residents of Donbass (Donetsk and Lugansk regions) start to be killed by American weapons," Lukashevich said.
"This would not only threaten to escalate the situation in the southeast of Ukraine, but threatens the security of Russia, whose territory has been repeatedly shelled from Ukraine."
The top NATO commander even spoke out on Thursday with similar warnings, saying that the West must take into account the possibility that Russia could react angrily to the arming of Ukrainian forces.
That kind of action by the U.S. "could trigger a more strident reaction from Russia," U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove said.
"Everything we do we have to look and evaluate as to will (it) advance the ball toward that political solution that we have to find here," Breedlove told The Associated Press in an interview. "So all manner of aid has to be taken in light of what we anticipate would be the Russian reaction."
Breedlove also said Russian continues to supply seperatists on the boarder with heavy weapons, air defenses and soldiers, something that Douglas Lute, U.S. ambassador to NATO, also confirmed Wednesday.
"We also assess that there are Russian soldiers in southeastern Ukraine today operating the more sophisticated Russian hardware that's has been provided to the separatist movement," Lute said, reported Reuters.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday that Obama is weighing his options and will soon decide whether to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine.
"The president is reviewing all of his options, among those options is the possibility of providing defensive systems to Ukraine," Kerry told a joint news conference with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, reported Reuters.
"The president will make his decision soon but not before he has had a chance to hear back from myself and others."
Russia continues to deny its involvement in the conflict, with the Russian Defense Ministry calling allegations that Russian troops have been deployed into Ukraine "complete rubbish," according to CNN.
