Washington is pushing Kiev to commit terrorist attacks in Russia — Ambassador to US

"Hearing such remarks from Washington, criminals in Kiev will once again feel complete permissiveness. The risks of an escalation of the conflict will only intensify," Anatoly Antonov said

Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov

© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

WASHINGTON, January 19. /TASS/. The US State Department, with its words about Crimea, is, in fact, pushing the Ukrainian authorities to carry out terrorist attacks in Russia, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said on Wednesday.

When asked to comment on the statements of US State Department Spokesman Ned Price, about the actual possibility of the Ukrainian armed forces to strike on the Crimean peninsula using American weapons, the Russian diplomat said: "We can state that the rhetoric of American officials is becoming more belligerent. The State Department, through out-of-touch assertions that "Crimea is Ukraine" and that the Armed Forces of Ukraine can use American weapons to protect their territory, is essentially pushing the Kiev regime to carry out terrorist attacks in Russia."

"Hearing such remarks from Washington, the criminals in Kiev will once again feel complete permissiveness. The risks of conflict escalation will only increase," Antonov said as quoted by the embassy’s press service.

Meanwhile, according to the Russian diplomat, American journalists "support such an attitude of the [US] administration and justify strikes of the Kiev regime against Crimea."

"It is said that American MLRS HIMARS as well as Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles could be used in the future to launch the offensive in the Crimean direction. Commentators naively believe that Russia will not respond to attacks on its territory," he noted.

"It should be clear for everyone - we will destroy any weapons supplied to the Zelensky's regime by either the United States or NATO," Antonov stressed.