MOSCOW, July 26, /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian Foreign Ministry on Saturday blasted the United States for being guided by lies in its foreign policy.
“Judging by the relentless slander campaign against Russia organized by the American administration, they are being more and more guided by blatant lies when pursuing their foreign policy,” the ministry said in a statement in connection with continuing anti-Russian remarks by the US administration.
The ministry cited US presidential spokesman Josh Earnest’s statements blaming Moscow for the recent crash of a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet in Ukraine as an example of such lies.
“In line with its current practice, Washington cites no proof or any references to facts that could be considered and commented,” it said, adding that the White House only mentions certain intelligence data but refuses to present it, and “information in social networks.”
On July 17, a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 passenger airliner on flight MH17 from the Dutch city of Amsterdam to the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur crashed in eastern Ukraine’s embattled Donetsk Region, killing all 298 people on board.
“In other words, in its ideas the Washington regime is guided by anti-Russian assumptions available on the internet,” the ministry said.
White House allegations
At a press briefing on July 25, Earnest claimed that “there were heavy weapons moved from Russia to Ukraine… into the hands of separatist leaders, and that those separatists who are backed by the Russians were trained by the Russians to use those systems.”
He also claimed the systems “include anti-aircraft weapons.” “According to social media reports, those weapons include the SA-11 system,” he said.
The US calls militiamen in Ukraine’s war-torn Southeast fighting for the rights of the local population “separatists”.
SA-11 is the Buk surface-to-air missile system (NATO reporting name: Gadfly), which investigators say could have been used to down the passenger jet.
“What we also know is that the Malaysia Airlines jet was brought down by a missile that was fired from the ground… in an area that was controlled by separatists and in an area where the Ukrainians themselves were not actually operating anti-aircraft weapons at that time,” Earnest also said.
“So that is why we have concluded that Vladimir Putin and the Russians are culpable to this tragedy,” he said.
The White House spokesman failed to present any proof to substantiate his allegations.