Washington Doesn't Want Political Settlement in Ukraine: Russian Diplomat
Comment came hours after Biden rejected Putin's ceasefire pitch
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Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador in the United States, said Thursday that Washington is not interested in a peaceful settlement in Ukraine just hours after the Biden administration announced another $2.8 billion in military aid for Kyiv, including several dozen Bradley fighting vehicles.
“This step comes as a confirmation that our interlocutors in the United States have not even tried to listen to our numerous calls to take into account possible consequences of such a dangerous course by Washington,” he said, according to Sputnik News.
The Associated Press noted that it was the first time the U.S. provided such a vehicle, but it is not considered a heavier battle tank. The report said the Bradley is “an armored carrier used to transport troops to combat, is not a tank but is known as a ‘tank-killer’ because of the anti-tank missile it can fire.”
The diplomat’s comments came after Ukraine rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s call for a unilateral, 36-hour ceasefire to mark the celebration of Orthodox Christmas, calling Putin “hypocritical” for even suggesting laying down arms, albeit briefly.
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Washington continued to promote war. President Joe Biden said the ceasefire was an effort by Putin to find breathing room.
“He was ready to bomb hospitals and nurseries and churches” on 25 December and on New Year’s Day. I think he’s trying to find some oxygen,” he said.
Antonov said it is “finally becoming clear to the whole international community that in 2014 the US unleashed a real proxy-war against Russia by supporting nazi criminals in Kyiv.”
He was likely referring to former German Chancellor Angela Merkel recent comment admitting that the Minsk agreements were an effective ruse to give Ukraine time to “get stronger” for its next conflict with Russia.
Merkel made the admission during an interview with a German newspaper. She said Ukraine used the ceasefire after the two peace deals as a time to get stronger, “as you can see today.”
“The Ukraine of 2014/15 is not the Ukraine of today. As you saw in the battle for Debaltseve in early 2015, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin could easily have overrun them at the time. And I very much doubt that the NATO countries could have done as much then as they do now to help Ukraine,” she said.
Merkel said that it was ‘clear to all of us that the conflict was frozen, that the problem had not been solved, but that gave Ukraine valuable time.’”
Maria Zakharova, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said Merkel’s comments “horrifyingly” reveal that the West uses “forgery as a method of action,” RT reported. She accused the West of employing “machinations, manipulation, and all kinds of distortions of truth, law, and rights imaginable.”
How many soldiers can be transported in the Bradley???