US supporting ‘terrorism’ against Russia – envoy
Russia's ambassador to the US has slammed Washington for its tacit support of terrorism against Moscow. The US is prepared to condone “terrorist activities” by its “satellite states” in an effort to damage Russia, Anatoly Antonov, has claimed, in an interview with Russian media published on Thursday.
He also accused the US of meddling in the ongoing Russian presidential election.
Washington has been Ukraine’s biggest military donor by far throughout the conflict with Moscow, and Kiev’s forces have used US-supplied weapons in multiple attacks on Russian civilian targets.
American HIMARS missiles have been deployed in strikes on Crimea, while a separate type of US rocket was used in an attempted attack on the bridge linking the peninsula to southern Russia earlier this month.
Officials in Washington have “forgotten that it was precisely Russian President Vladimir Putin who first extended a helping hand to the American people following the [September 11] terrorist attack in 2001,” the diplomat stated.
The ambassador further insisted that Moscow refuses to accept the “rules-based world order created in the interest of the US.”
According to Antonov, Moscow is aware of “anti-Russian actions [and] provocations” allegedly prepared ahead of the Russian presidential election, which began on Friday and concludes on Sunday. Voting will be held at diplomatic premises for Russians outside the country.
“Russian-American relations will continue to worsen,” the envoy predicted, arguing that US officials’ rhetoric poses a “threat to the strategic security of the whole world.”
On Wednesday, Antonov alleged that the “direct involvement of the United States in the [Ukraine] conflict has been officially recognized,” warning that further Western participation could lead to the “most unpredictable consequences.”
His comments came after CIA Director William Burns told a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Monday that additional funding to Ukraine would allow it to conduct “deep penetration strikes in Crimea,” while targeting the Russian Black Sea Fleet and eventually “regain[ing] the offensive initiative.”
