WASHINGTON, August 14. /ITAR-TASS/. Western allegations that Russia’s convoy of trucks with humanitarian cargo for the war-torn southeastern Ukraine is used by Moscow as a disguise for a military intervention are “absurd” and prove that that “Western propagandists have no respect whatsoever for the intelligence of Western peoples,” a US political scientist wrote on website.

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, who used to work as an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, wrote in particular that “Even a moron should understand that if Russia wants to send military forces into Ukraine, Russia doesn’t need any pretext, much less a joint humanitarian venture with the Red Cross.”

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry’s truck convoy with relief supplies for the residents of the war-torn southeast of Ukraine set out early on Tuesday. The convoy comprises 280 trucks that will deliver humanitarian aid supplies, collected by residents of Moscow and the Moscow region. The total weight of the supplies, including food products, baby food, medicines and drinking water, is 2,000 tons.

US Department of State Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf said addressing a press briefing earlier in the week that the United States was “concerned that Russia could try to use a humanitarian or peacekeeping operation as a pretense for inserting elements of military force into Ukraine.”

“The eastern Ukraine, following Crimea’s lead, has already voted both independence from Kiev and in favor of rejoining Russia. If Russia needed an excuse, the decisions by the eastern Ukrainians made months ago suffice. But Russia needs no excuse to rescue Russians from being slaughtered by Washington’s stooges like Palestinians in Gaza,” Roberts said.

“By its inaction, the Russian government is providing Washington’s vassal states in Europe time to comprehend that Washington, not Russia, is the problem, and that Washington intends for the cost of its conflict with Russia to fall on Europeans,” he added.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday that Russia was taking efforts to agree with Ukraine, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations on humanitarian aid deliveries.

The Russian foreign minister said humanitarian aid was urgently needed in east Ukraine as Luhansk was left without water and electricity and local hospitals were short of “basic medicines.”

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has also stated its readiness to support the humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

Swiss President and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Didier Burkhalter welcomed the ICRC announcement that it would step up activities for the affected population in south-eastern Ukrainian regions and deploy additional teams there.

Almost 850,000 people have been forced to flee their homes since the start of Kiev’s military operation in the country’s southeast, of whom 730,000 have found shelter in Russia, according to data reported by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.