Morocco has not yet transferred any tanks to Ukraine. Moscow considers the seizure of tanks belonging to Morocco by Prague to transport them to Ukraine as a blatant case of de facto expropriation, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
In a comment broadcast on Monday, Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, announced that Russia condemns the confiscation of Moroccan tanks by the Czechs to transfer them to Ukraine, noting that this will contribute to prolonging the conflict and inflicting maximum damage. That is: Morocco has neither decided nor carried out a transfer of military tanks to Ukraine.
According to available information, even before the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, Morocco signed a contract with the Czech company Excalibur Army, to modernize its 130 T-72B tanks, purchased in 1999-2001 from Belarus, explains manager. After the modernization, 56 tanks were returned to Morocco while the remaining 74 were expropriated by the Czech authorities, who allegedly intended to transfer them to the war zone in Ukraine.
” We view this egregious case as further evidence of the hostile anti-Russian course pursued by the Czech authorities, in which Prague does not hesitate to stoop to violating fundamental provisions of international law governing the arms trade.“, noted the diplomat, answering a question from the press about Moroccan tanks being modernized in the Czech Republic which would have been transmitted to Ukraine.
She continues: “ We observe with regret that the sad experience of the Second World War is being repeated, when Czech companies, part of the military-industrial complex of Nazi Germany, tirelessly supplied the Third Reich with armaments to continue its war against the USSR“.
The official representative of the Russian ministry also made it known that ” the Moroccans were effectively presented with a fait accompli. Moreover, they were made guilty before the Belarusians for not honoring their commitment not to transfer these tanks to third countries without the consent of the supplier, as stipulated in the contract“. The Czech Republic’s decision to seize the tanks is just one more example of its anti-Russian policy, she added.
Moreover, Maria Zakharova pointed out that the goals and objectives of the Western collective are quite clear: “ contribute to perpetuate the conflict in Ukraine and thus inflict maximum damage on Russia, even if this means continuing the fight until the “last Ukrainian”“.
The spokeswoman clarified that the Czech Republic had learned nothing from history, since it hastened to make its country one of the main sites for the production, repair and modernization of equipment. soldiers destined for the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev.
She assures, in this sense, that Moscow continues to examine media reports that these Moroccan tanks being modernized in the Czech Republic may have ended up in the war zone in Ukraine.