The Russian Foreign Ministry today issued “a formal demarche” to the US ambassador to Moscow, Lynne Tracy. The statement protested “the growing involvement of the United States in hostilities on the side of the Kiev regime.” The ministry charged that the US is “pumping the Ukrainian military with arms and providing it with targeting information for strikes on Russian military and civilian infrastructure.” Such policies “clearly prove that assertions of the American side that the US is not a party to the conflict are inadequate and false.” They warned the US ambassador that not only Western-supplied weapons, but also the personnel who are operating them, including US citizens, are “legitimate targets” for Russia’s military.
The statement continued: The “current aggressive course of the US to deepen confrontation with Russia in all areas is counterproductive.” However, if the US wanted to de-escalate the situation, it should “take steps envisaging the withdrawal of US-NATO military and equipment, as well as the cessation of hostile anti-Russian activities.”
In what the Foreign Ministry considered a not-unrelated matter, it also pointed out, as RT put it, that the US should offer an explanation for the explosions that ruptured the Nord Stream gas pipelines last September, adding that Washington should not “hinder an objective investigation to identify the culprits.”