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Nuland fanning the flames by telling Kiev it’s okay to strike Crimea — diplomat

According to Maria Zakharova, the pitting, which had been going on for years, has now advanced to open calls

MOSCOW, February 17. /TASS/. US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, who had said that the Ukrainian army had a legal right to strike in Crimea, was thus inciting the Kiev regime to further escalate the conflict, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Friday.

The diplomat slammed these statements as "mind-boggling and absurd." "Once again we have to state the involvement of the US in the conflict in Ukraine. They supply weapons in huge quantities, provide intelligence, directly participate in the planning of combat operations, and train Ukrainian units," she said.

"Now the American warmongers have gone even further: they are inciting the Kiev regime to further escalate, to bring the war to the territory of our country. Just like that, with direct strikes. This is what we warned everyone about before, and the reason which caused us to launch the special military operation in the first place. Now they, US officials, are openly talking about it," the diplomat pointed out.

According to Zakharova, the pitting, which had been going on for years, has now advanced to open calls. "It is clear that the references to some military infrastructure in Nuland's speech are nothing more than an attempt to cover up with some plausible pretext the desire to defeat our country, which they all dream about like crazy," the spokeswoman stressed.

"We all know how Ukrainian neo-Nazis hit civilian objects. There are plenty of facts. And we have repeatedly cited statistics, including in international organizations. We have been keeping track since 2014. Because civilian infrastructure, its undermining, its destruction has always been a cherished goal of those who, by the hands of the Kiev regime, managed the situation in Ukraine and directed this situation into a direction of strife and open conflict. And this, of course, is Washington and not least of all Victoria Nuland personally," Zakharova concluded.

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