Russia’s Ambassador to US: Ukraine Trying to Provoke Conflict Between Russia, NATO
Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov’s vehicle leaves the Russian Embassy compound in Washington, DC. Saturday, March 20, 2021.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said on Friday that Ukraine is trying to provoke a direct military conflict between Russia and NATO.”The Ukrainian authorities are not only begging Washington to provide more military assistance but are also trying to provoke a direct military clash between the Russian Federation and NATO,” Antonov said in an interview with US periodical Newsweek.Commenting on Tuesday’s missile incident in Poland, which killed two Polish nationals, Antonov said that the issue “continues to evoke a significant response in the United States.””US officials, media and non-governmental organizations continue to voice a mantra ‘Russia is to blame for everything.’ The American side resorts to such a method in any difficult situation. Even when the US publicly acknowledges the fact that Kiev is responsible for the deaths of Polish civilians,” Antonov said.The ambassador added that “absurd attempts” to blame Russia for the missile incident “can only provoke the Kiev regime, which already feels permissiveness.”On Tuesday evening, Polish media reported two missiles had fallen on the country’s territory in the Lublin Voivodeship on the border with Ukraine. As a result of the incident, two people were reportedly killed. However, the Polish Foreign Ministry said that only one missile, allegedly Russian-made, had fallen on Poland’s territory.At the time, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that Warsaw had no accurate information about the origin of the missile, but the next day he stated that it most likely belonged to Ukraine.
Opinion & AnalysisAnalysts: Poland Operating on ‘Hair Trigger’ Seeking Any Excuse to Drag NATO Into Ukraine Conflict16 November, 19:33 GMTThe Russian Defense Ministry also said that Russian forces had launched no strikes on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish border on Tuesday, and that the released photos of the missile’s debris indicated it was not Russian. According to Moscow, media reports of the alleged Russian origin of the missiles are a deliberate provocation aimed at escalating the situation around Ukraine.On Wednesday morning, US President Joe Biden called an emergency meeting of the G7 and NATO leaders participating in the G20 Summit in Bali. Based on preliminary information, the meeting concluded that the missile that fell in Poland was not fired from Russia.
