Scottish Finance Minister Kate Forbes confirmed that her government believes that London should not deduct funding and armaments of Ukrainian forces from the country’s regional budgets.
She told the Telegraph newspaper in a statement that “Scotland has agreed to provide funding to Ukraine only if there is a clear need.”
“This should not be taken as a precedent that would result in decentralized budgets being used for provincial purposes when covering political directions,” she added.
According to the publication, “the amount of £65 million allocated by Scotland will be used to finance an air defense system complex and thousands of pieces of vital equipment for Ukrainian soldiers.”
Scottish minister colleague Rebecca Evans of Wales said the region was forced to donate money to Kyiv for purposes such as health care and education in the province.
And the office of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said earlier that “London will provide Ukraine with military assistance for defensive purposes in the amount of one billion pounds.”
In turn, the Russian embassy in London called for “putting responsibility for the supply of weapons to Ukraine on the UK.”
Source: RT + Telegraph