Russia Hope U.S. Wise Enough To Prevent Direct Confrontation

Russia Says It Hopes US Wise Enough To Prevent Confrontation

Donald Standeford

The Russian Foreign Ministry reportedly put out a statement to Russian State news agency TASS that Moscow hopes that Washington will "show enough prudence" and "is wise enough" to "prevent the situation from escalating to the point of a direct confrontation".

Alexander Darchiyev, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's North American Department was cited by TASS as saying, "One can only hope that Washington will heed the voice of reason and does not let the situation escalate to the point of a direct confrontation between Russia and the United States. Otherwise, severed diplomatic ties will become a reality, with all due consequences".

Darchiyev claimed that it was the United States that "started to spin the flywheel of destroying bilateral relations."

"Washington opted to self-isolate from Moscow, but is now trying to shift the blame as if someone else brought those relations to the point of no return, not the current administration," he reportedly stated.

"We are not seeking to sever them completely, but we will not tolerate malicious provocations that leave us with no other choice," he added.

The Director also advised the new envoy from the United States not to interfere with Russia's internal affairs, which he claims is under the "pretext" of working with "civil society".

"The most important thing for Tracy is she should take into account the mistakes of one of her predecessors, who got off to a bad start as soon as he arrived at his post," Darchiyev stated.

"Meddling in our internal affairs under the guise of working with ‘civil society’ immediately got this character ostracized. We discourage the new envoy from going down this path," he added.

He said that the new U.S. ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy, who was appointed on December 21st, has already "said a lot of things," and so "she has almost no room for maneuver, considering the off-the-charts hatred towards Russia within the Capitol."

Darchiev also said during the interview with TASS that peace talks would be premature until the flood of weapons and financing for the "Zelenskiy regime" stops, and the "American and NATO" servicemen/mercenaries/instructors are "withdrawn" from Ukraine.

He said that talks would need to be preceded by "recognition of the realities we have defined on the ground," which may be in reference to the areas of Ukraine that have been occupied by Russia since the beginning of the war in February.