Russia received’t again down in its standoff with NATO over Ukraine, or within the Black Sea, and underestimating the nation’s resolve might be disastrous, Moscow’s high diplomat in Washington has blasted amid worsening ties with the US.
Speaking in an interview on Saturday with the Soloviev LIVE YouTube channel, Ambassador Anatoly Antonov stated that “there are… suggestions expressed here, that some desperate head may appear in Ukraine or a group of fighters who will try to test the strength of the Russian defense, counting on the fact that we will not respond… I would like to say and emphasize unequivocally: this is a very dangerous delusion.”
The envoy blasted a purported enhance in provides of American weapons reaching Kiev, probably together with the anti-tank missile system, Javelin. The ambassador stated that Washington constantly claims that these weapons are for “defensive” functions.
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Antonov’s remarks come shortly after NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg informed CNN that the bloc had tripled the dimensions of its useful resource pressure and upped its presence in each the Black and Baltic seas to counter a Russian presence.
A US Navy-guided missile destroyer, the ‘Arleigh Burke’, was deployed to the Black Sea final week shortly after two different American warships have been noticed in the identical waters.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov additionally expressed concern, some days in the past, over the alleged use of US-made rockets by Ukrainian forces preventing separatists within the east of the nation, which he stated may result in full-blown provocations.
Earlier this month, Antonov warned that offering deadly arms to Ukraine may scupper any hopes for peace within the war-torn Donbass area and that “plans to supply weapons to the regime in Kiev will only worsen the situation in southeastern Ukraine.”
Tensions between NATO and Russia have flared up once more lately. Earlier in November, Moscow’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko warned that Stoltenberg’s plans to shuttle American nuclear warheads round Eastern European nations endangered current peace accords between the 2 events. The bloc’s chief claimed the move was crucial as a result of alleged threats posed by Moscow’s “aggressive actions.”