WASHINGTON, December 22. /TASS/. The Russian Embassy in Washington responded to a statement by US State Department Spokesman Ned Price, urging the United States not to shift blame for the escalation of tension between the two countries.
"We call on @StateDept not to distort the reality. For the sake of de-escalation, the United States should not create anti-Russian military sites near our borders," the Russian diplomatic mission wrote on its Twitter on Wednesday.
"In particular, #Washington shall undertake to prevent further eastward expansion of @NATO, deny accession to the Alliance to the States of the former #USSR, not use their infrastructure for any military activities, and not develop bilateral military cooperation with them," the statement reads.
The US State Department spokesman claimed on Tuesday that "Russia and its proxies are responsible for escalating tensions, not Ukraine or the United States." He called on Moscow "to stop using false, inflammatory rhetoric and take meaningful steps to de-escalate tensions to provide a positive atmosphere for discussions."
The US State Department issued its statement after Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu commented on the situation in Ukraine.
Russian Defense Minister Shoigu said at the ministry’s board meeting on Tuesday that the presence of over 120 personnel belonging to American private military companies had been spotted in the settlements of Avdeyevka and Priazovskoye in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.
As the Russian defense chief elaborated, they were equipping firing points in residential buildings and socially significant facilities, training the Ukrainian military and carrying out other activities. Shoigu also said that containers with unidentified chemical components had been delivered to the community of Avdeyevka and the settlement of Krasny Liman in order to stage provocations.