No country was eager to sell Ukraine even non-lethal weapons due to fear of Putin, former Australian PM Abbott says

The West must not forget about Ukraine. The world must continue providing the civil and military support to Ukraine.

Former Prime Minister of Australia (2013-2015) Tony Abbott said in an interview with Ukrinform, Censor.NET reports.

The former Australian PM said that there indeed was a threat that the world might generally lose interest in Ukraine, when its support would be required most. He said that the IMF had provided financial support to the Ukrainian government, the EU contributed to the development of civil society, the United States and the United Kingdom were helping to train the Ukrainian army. However, according to him, some European countries strived to lift sanctions against Russia. The ex-PM stated that the pressure was put on Ukraine to force it to hold local elections under the Minsk agreements. Tony Abbott said that the truce was not completely observed, despite the cease-fire deal, thus the results of elections in the breakaway territories were unlikely to be objective.

Mr. Abbott explained that no country was eager to sell Ukraine even non-lethal weapons due to fear of Putin, adding that it was difficult to understand why the legitimate democratic government, which was under real threat, was not provided with the anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, which the West so easily supplied to mujahideens in Afghanistan.

The former prime minister of Australia recalled his comments regarding the Russian Federation, when he said that with so many problems in the world, the last thing needed was a powerful country that extended its influence through war.