The Russian Foreign Ministry was busy on Friday. First, they issued a statement warning that Moscow may cut diplomatic relations with London over the UK’s role in Ukrainian terrorist attacks inside Russia, as reported by an earlier Wall Street Journal article. The warning to the U.S. was left implicit in that statement.
But later that day, the Foreign Ministry also summoned U.S. diplomats to file a “strong protest” over the “provocative statements” and “unacceptable remarks” by U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who had issued a statement giving Ukraine a de facto green light to launch strikes against Russian territory, including Crimea and the Belgorod region, the ministry said in a statement.
In TASS’s account, Sullivan’s “words prove that previous US statements suggesting Washington does not endorse any Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory are `hypocritical and untruthful,’ the [Russian Foreign Ministry] statement said. It added that weapons and equipment supplied by the US are being used by Ukraine for `terrorist acts… The hostile actions of the US, which has long become a party to the conflict, have plunged US-Russia relations into a deep and dangerous crisis fraught with unpredictable consequences,” the Ministry warned. It also maintained that “any forms of aggression against Russia would be always met with a resolute response.”
Last week, Sullivan had stated to CNN: “We have not placed limitations on Ukraine being able to strike on its territory within its internationally recognized borders,” he said, adding that “we believe Crimea is Ukraine.”
