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As the Biden administration considers how to deter further Russian aggression in Ukraine, a Russian expert is warning officials not to enact a no-fly zone.
Enacting a no-fly zone and subsequently enforcing one would push the global community closer to a potential world war, former U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency agent Rebekah Koffler warned in a series of tweets, where she also rebuked Russian “experts” who wrote a letter to the Biden administration calling for one.
“Same ‘experts’ who got UKR-RUS into this conflict in the first place, by promoting foolish ideas, not grounded in reality,” she tweeted, sharing a report from the Hill, “Now dragging us into WWIII.”
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“Who are these ‘experts?'” Koffler continued, specifically naming Evelyn Farkas, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia. “Evelyn Farkas, former top Russia ‘expert’ at the Pentagon? Dumb as a Siberian shoe!”
“Every top Russia ‘expert’ at the Pentagon, the DASD for Russia and Eurasia, for the past several years had NO Russia background or expertise,” the author of “Putin’s Playbook” added. “Take that in.”
In another pair of tweets, Koffler challenged these “experts” on what enacting a no-fly zone could mean for the U.S.
“The problem is this: people who have no business weighing in on national security issues are pushing their dumb narratives into the information domain,” she tweeted. “Do these foreign policy ‘experts’ even understand what it means to impose a no-fly zone?”
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WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THE US IMPOSED A NO-FLY ZONE IN UKRAINE?
Russian President Vladimir Putin could consider a no-fly zone declaration to be “escalatory, not de-escalatory,” Koffler added. She suggested it could steer Putin towards nuclear engagement.
Koffler’s comments came shortly after over two dozen current and former military and intelligence officials signed an open letter calling for the Biden administration to enact a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
“We, the undersigned, urge the Biden administration, together with NATO allies, to impose a limited No-Fly Zone over Ukraine starting with protection for humanitarian corridors that were agreed upon in talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials on Thursday,” stated the letter, which Farkas and others signed. “NATO leaders should convey to Russian officials that they do not seek direct confrontation with Russian forces, but they must also make clear that they will not countenance Russian attacks on civilian areas.”
Ukrainian soldiers take part in an exercise for the use of NLAW anti-tank missiles at the Yavoriv military training ground, close to Lviv, western Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Pavlo Palamarchuk, File)
“The international community has responded swiftly through an unprecedented array of sanctions and a significant increase in lethal military assistance to help Ukraine defend itself. But more must be done to prevent more widescale casualties and a potential bloodbath,” the letter continued.
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Ukrainian officials are also calling for the international community to enact a no-fly zone over their country in the hopes that it would prevent Russian planes from providing material support for their forces and discontinue the bombings of civilian areas.
“A U.S.-NATO enforced No-Fly Zone to protect humanitarian corridors and additional military means for Ukrainian self-defense are desperately needed, and needed now,” the letter concludes.
