The spokesman for the Russian Presidency, Dmitry Peskov, said in the capital this Sunday that the United States government is the main cause of international tensions.
Peskov was responding to US Assistant Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland’s comment that Russia’s military installations in Crimea were “legitimate targets” for Ukraine, adding that the peninsula needed to be demilitarized.
The Kremlin spokesman also stressed that Nuland’s words “re-emphasize how deep the discrepancies between Moscow and Washington are.”
He added that “Ms. Nuland is one of the broad band of unruly hawks in American politics.” “We are fully aware of her views,” he said. Crimea seceded from Ukraine and rejoined Russia after holding a referendum in March 2014 in which an overwhelming majority of voters – more than 96 percent – backed the option.
For Kiev, it is temporarily occupied territory; For its part, Moscow claims that the Crimeans voted democratically and in full compliance with international law and the UN Charter, and that the matter is finally settled.