By In Russia’s first reaction to President Joe Biden‘s signing of a bill providing $61 billion in additional wartime aid to Ukraine, Russia’s top diplomat in the United States, Ambassador Anatoly Antonov, shared a stark warning with Newsweek, accusing the U.S. of having “launched an all-out hybrid war” against Russia and choosing “the path of war.”
Antonov claimed that the US is “encouraging attacks on Russian territory, including strategic deterrent facilities,” and that the Biden administration is “performing a balancing act above burning ground,” risking a “direct clash between nuclear powers.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the Ukraine aid package, part of a broader $95 billion foreign aid bill, and expressed gratitude to Biden and Congress for recognizing the need to “cut the ground under [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s feet.”
The Pentagon detailed a range of weapons and ammunition for Ukraine, encompassing air defense missiles, surface-to-surface missiles, mortar and artillery rounds, and armored vehicles.
However, Antonov argued that the U.S. military-industrial complex is “flooded with new orders” and claimed that Ukrainian forces have used U.S.-provided systems “against ordinary civilians.”
He also criticized the transfer of billions of dollars worth of frozen Russian assets toward a special fund for supporting Ukraine, calling it “robbery” and warning that “the international financial system will inevitably break down.”
Antonov asserted that the new legislation further alienates any chance for rapprochement between the U.S. and Russia, stating that “America is increasingly driving itself into zugzwang.”
He concluded by asserting that President Putin unites the Russian people and that the “Special Military Operation” will achieve all its goals and objectives.
Credit: Newsweek.com
