Washington’s support for kyiv’s strikes on the peninsula highlights its role in stoking global tensions, Putin’s spokesman said.
The US government’s public endorsement of Ukraine’s attacks on Crimea shows the growing foreign policy rift between Washington and Moscow, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday.
US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said on Thursday that Russian military deployments in Crimea “are legitimate targets” for Ukraine, and that Washington supports kyiv’s attacks against them. The peninsula voted overwhelmingly to become part of Russia in 2014 following a Western-backed coup in Kiev, but Ukraine still considers it part of its own territory.
In an interview with the Rossiya-1 television channel, Peskov described Nuland as part of “a very large group of the most aggressive hawks in American politics”.
The spokesperson said the diplomat’s remarks “to underline once again the depth of the differences between us” and highlight “the role of the United States as the main instigator of existing global tensions”.
On Friday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned Nuland’s statement on Crimea as “staggering” And “absurd,” calling it evidence of “U.S. involvement in the Ukrainian conflict.”
In addition to supplying arms to kyiv, the United States “pushing the kyiv regime to a new escalation”, she says. “This is what we warned about before and what compelled us to launch a special military operation.”
Earlier this month, the United States announced a new $2.17 billion security program for Ukraine, including ground-launched small diameter bombs (GLSDB) with a range of up to 150 kilometers (93 miles). The weapons could potentially give kyiv a much greater ability to launch strikes on Crimea.
On Wednesday, Politico reported, citing sources, that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a panel that Washington was not “actively encourage” kyiv to seize Crimea, as it believes such attempts would be a red line for Moscow, triggering a drastic response.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of the National Security Council, has warned that any strike inside the peninsula will be “encountered inevitable retaliation using weapons of all kinds.”
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