WASHINGTON DC (TASS): US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield called an unacceptable escalation the order of Russian President Vladimir Putin to transfer the deterrence forces in the Russian army to a special mode of combat duty in response to aggressive statements in the West. Writes about it on Sunday agency Reuters .
“This means that President Putin continues to escalate this war in a completely unacceptable manner, and we must continue to stop his actions in the strongest possible way,” Thomas-Greenfield quoted the agency as saying on CBS .
“We will continue here at the UN, as well as around the world, to use all possible levers that we have to expose his actions,” the American diplomat said.
Thomas-Greenfield noted that she learned about the decision of the Russian leader about the deterrence forces only during an interview from a question from a CBS journalist. “But I’m not surprised by this information, because Putin has tried every possible means to really scare the world with his actions. It only means that we must step up our efforts here at the UN and elsewhere to hold him accountable” – said the US Ambassador to the UN.
During the interview, the diplomat was also asked if she believes that there is a “threat of using chemical or biological weapons” in Ukraine. “Of course, nothing can be ruled out <…>,” Thomas-Greenfield argued in response.
She also said that the US military would not operate in the air over Ukraine. “President [US Joe Biden] has made it clear that we will not set foot on [Ukraine]. We are not going to endanger the US military, which means they will not be in the air [over Ukraine] either,” she said in a broadcast on CNN .
“We will work with the Ukrainians to enable them to defend themselves,” the US envoy added.
The Permanent Representative to the UN also said that the United States is watching what will come out of the discussions in the Gomel region. “This is a decision, the adoption of which was left to the government of Ukraine, and it accepted it, but we are watching what will come out of these discussions,” the US Ambassador said.
The presenter asked her if the United States believed that the negotiations would be in good faith. “I can’t look into the head of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, understand the logic of Russia, so this remains to be seen. Let’s see what happens,” Greenfield said.
Earlier Sunday, Putin instructed that the deterrence forces in the Russian army be placed on a special alert regime. The Russian president stressed that this was being done in response to the aggressive statements made by senior officials of the leading NATO countries against Russia. This instruction was given against the backdrop of a special military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine. Moscow started it in response to the appeal of the leaders of the Donbass republics for help.
Earlier, the head of the Russian delegation at the talks, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, said that on Sunday an agreement was reached with the Ukrainian side to hold talks in the Gomel region of Belarus. The Russian delegation has already left Minsk for the meeting place.
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