The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov went on Rossiya-1 television today to warn the West about the seriousness of the maneuvers on the Russian border. “Ukraine is most likely seeking another attempt to start solving its own problem by force, creating another disaster for itself and for everyone in Europe.” They are “achieving this, most likely, under the cover of those NATO exercises, NATO ships in the Black Sea, American and British soldiers in the region, there are more and more of them.… This is what Ukraine is striving for. And this is heartbreaking since it will entail some serious consequences.” TASS’s coverage referred to Vladimir Putin’s comments on Nov. 18 to his Foreign Ministry’s enlarged board meeting, on NATO’s strategic bombers flying only 20 km from the Russian border, carrying “quite serious weapons.” (http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67123)
On the narrative that Russia was preparing for an invasion of Ukraine, Peskov remarked, “this hysteria is being escalated artificially.… Those who have brought their armed forces overseas are accusing us of some unusual military activity on our territory. That is, the U.S. Well, this is not entirely logical and not entirely decent.”
Meanwhile, the Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov also appeared on Rossiya-1 on Nov. 21. Following upon Peskov’s statement from Nov. 18 regarding a possible Putin-Biden summit, Ryabkov confirmed that work is underway for Putin-Biden meeting. “Thorough preparation is needed for this meeting to take place, and that is what we’re doing.” He then volunteered that the U.S. claims about Russia, related to Ukraine, need to be addressed; and Russia will “explain in detail what really happens and how.”
