MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/. The United States is seeking to divert attention from the failures of its own policy in the Middle East and influence voters in the upcoming presidential election by launching attacks on Yemen, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"They are concerned about their own benefit, their own state of affairs, to what extent can they, by bombing Yemen, divert attention away from their failures in other parts of the region, and to what extent will they be able to create back home, in the United States, a sense that they are 'doing something,' and [in the final analysis] to what extent can they sway the [US] electorate [by such means]. That's what they're worried about now," the diplomat told Sputnik Radio.

At the same time, according to the spokeswoman, the US will then "erase everything, burn every history book, tear down every monument that testifies to the facts." "They will then erect a false monument, write false textbooks, and hang up a false plaque," Zakharova said. "Just as on the territory of Eastern European countries, plaques are nailed to monuments honoring Soviet soldiers explaining that these soldiers were not such heroic warriors as may be written on the underlying monument. That's the logic; they've been doing it their entire lives and have grown accustomed to it," she pointed out.

"Then the second episode begins," Zakharova noted. "The same one that started in Japan. The Americans bombed [Hiroshima and Nagasaki] with nuclear weapons, and for decades they inculcated in the Japanese the idea that the enemy was the Soviet Union. The [atomic] bombs, as it is currently written in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki museums, simply fell from the sky all on their own by their own power, while the Americans represent the messiah that is destined to save Japan," the diplomat emphasized.

"I am sure that in all other cases the same logic will prevail on the part of those who carry out the bombings," Zakharova underscored.

Situation in Yemen

After the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Yemeni rebels (Houthis) warned that they would launch strikes on Israeli territory and would not allow ships associated with the Jewish state to pass through the waters of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until Tel Aviv stopped its military operation in the embattled Palestinian enclave. According to estimates by US Central Command, the Houthis have attacked more than 20 vessels and civilian ships in the Red Sea since mid-November 2023.

In the early morning hours of January 12, US and UK forces attacked Houthi targets in a number of Yemeni cities, including Dhamar, Saada, Sana'a, Taiz and Hodeidah. US President Joe Biden said that the strike on Yemen was ordered in response to "unprecedented Houthi attacks" on shipping in the Red Sea and that the strikes targeting Houthi munitions depots, launching systems, production facilities, and air defense radar systems were delivered "in self-defense."