The Pentagon Press secretary John Kirby tweeted today “Russian claims that the United States was involved in any way with Ukrainian naval operations near the Zmiiny Island are false. We did not provide ISR or any other support. Chalk this up to just one more lie by the Russian Ministry of Defense.”
This seems to me a very worrying development—whether the US are really involved directly with Ukraine’s operations or not, if Russia thinks they are, this is bound to cause an escalation of the conflict. Especially with NATO moving troops toward it’s Eastern members—i.e. closer to Russia.
“The Russian government is spreading misinformation about US / NATO involvement” is a very different hypothesis from “The Russian government is mistaken about US / NATO involvement.”
The Pentagon Press secretary John Kirby tweeted today “Russian claims that the United States was involved in any way with Ukrainian naval operations near the Zmiiny Island are false. We did not provide ISR or any other support. Chalk this up to just one more lie by the Russian Ministry of Defense.”
This seems to me a very worrying development—whether the US are really involved directly with Ukraine’s operations or not, if Russia thinks they are, this is bound to cause an escalation of the conflict. Especially with NATO moving troops toward it’s Eastern members—i.e. closer to Russia.
“The Russian government is spreading misinformation about US / NATO involvement” is a very different hypothesis from “The Russian government is mistaken about US / NATO involvement.”