President Vladimir Putin made it known through its ambassador in Buenos Aires, Dmitry Feoktistov, that He is upset for the deepening of the relations between the government of Javier Milei and Volodimir Zelenski.
The diplomat, furthermore, warned that your country will consider as a “hostile act” any military transfer for Argentina to provide Ukraine in the middle of the war being waged in said territory, which broke out after the Russian invasion in 2022.
The idea of military transfer is for now part of a plan of the Argentine government, which emerged not only as a Zelensky’s request but also as part of a claim from the United States and the European powers to accept Argentina as a “global partner” of NATO.
After the G7 meeting in Italy, Javier Milei traveled to Switzerland this Saturday to participate in the Ukraine Peace Summit -although without Russia and China- and merged into a hug with his ally Zelensky. Just as she had anticipated. Clarion, the Ukrainian leader sent him a special request that he not fail due to certain doubts that the Argentine initially had. Zelensky came to the Argentine’s inauguration on December 10.
This week, through a series of meetings held in Belgium and Italy, and which continued this Saturday in Switzerland, where Javier Milei, the Minister of Defense, also traveled Luis Petri met with Pentagon chief Austin Lloyd and Rustem Umerov, the defense minister of Volodymyr Zelensky.
In these meetings, on Thursday, Argentina joined the so-called Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine (called Ramstein coalition), a group of 54 countries that, with the United States at the head, coordinates military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, within the framework of its war of resistance against Russia.
The Russian response, through Ambassador Feoktistov, did not take long to arrive. “Regarding the participation of the Argentine Minister of Defense, Luis Petri, in the Brussels meeting, within the framework of the Ramstein coalition, there are still no official comments from the Argentine side. The certain fact of the rapprochement between Buenos Aires and the military patrons of Ukraine causes us deep disappointment“Feoktistov declared to Russian media, according to the Chinese agency Xinhua.
The ambassador also criticized Argentine plans to be global partners of the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO). “In April, Argentina requested the status of global partner of the alliance. “Frankly, we do not understand how granting this status can improve Argentina’s security,” He said, in addition to seeing how a “hostile act” towards his country any possible transfer of military equipment to Ukraine.
Clarion He consulted the Foreign Ministry’s Chief of Staff if there was a response or comments on the situation. But he received no response. Foreign Minister Diana Mondino was also in Switzerland this Saturday, where she was initially only going to be with Petri, but later Milei joined her.
“We put an end to neutrality in the conflict”, affirm other government sources. Petri explained that Argentina’s entry into the Contact Group had the objective of “promoting international peace and stability” and that it had “the importance of international cooperation in times of crisis.”
Since her electoral campaign, Milei has shown herself as an ally to Zelensky, although always avoided talking about Putin in the terms with which other presidents did refer: how he spoke about Lula da Silva, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Gustavo Petro or Pedro Sánchez. Unconfirmed reports claim that in this he follows the line of Donald Trump and the European right, which until before the war in Ukraine was an ally of the Russian leader
To a large extent, along with the strengthening of relations with the United States, Milei became closer and closer to Zelensky, which has important demands in the field of Defense. None have been realized.
Milei and Petri’s request for Argentina to be a global partner of NATO has several architects. Firstly, the Secretary of International Relations of the Ministry of Defense, academic Juan Battaleme. But it is also supported by other authorities, such as Vice Minister Claudio Pascualini (retired general) and the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Xavier Isaac. Brigadier General Isaac was the manager of the purchase of the F16 from Denmark and that requires different degrees of international cooperation with the United States. Although the uniformed men avoid unfriendly gestures towards their Russian counterparts, the alliance with the United States, and with NATO, It implies demands especially because the initial aggression was that of Russia when it invaded Ukraine.
Although Argentina, like the rest of Latin America, did not agree to go to the sanctions scheme against the Russians, Milei is the one who closest ties with Zelensky.
A first idea that the United States claimed was that, with the sale to Argentina of 24 F16 supersonic aircraft to Argentina – which are in Denmark and whose contract Petri already signed – is that the country would give Ukraine two Russian helicopters that were used for the Antarctic campaign, and they are not flying because they could not be maintained since before the war.
But the delivery of the helicopters was ruled out outright on the advice of the military advisors themselves because it would be considered not only an openly aggressive act against Russia but also a bad precedent for Argentina due to non-compliance with contracts regarding any type of aircraft purchase.
Another plan developed by the Defense and Foreign Ministry was to give them the five French Super Etendard aircraft, purchased in 2018 by the government of Mauricio Macri from Emmanuel Macron. Not only did these never fly due to technical problems, but today they do not have the capacity to do so in any way and are obsolete aircraft for a war.
The other idea on the table is that through a possible association with NATO, Argentina receives credits that allow it to activate its weapons factories and ammunition production. But today, the Argentine military has lost its ability to produce cannon ammunition, which is what Ukraine needs. And when all this is likely to materialize, perhaps the Russo-Ukrainian war will be over.
