Russia’s increasingly “assertive” foreign policy in Eastern Europe and the Middle East has concerned the US, leading Washington to expand surveillance operations against Moscow, a political analyst from Virginia says.
“It’s quite likely that the United States is involved extensively in various covert actions in the Ukraine, and that the Russians are no doubt aware of this,” said Keith Preston, chief editor and director of attackthesystem.com, a website dedicated to encouraging revolt against domestic and foreign US government policies.
“We also have to keep in mind that the United States is likely very concerned about Russian involvement in the various conflicts that are going on in the Middle East at present,” Preston told Press TV on Friday.
“In particular, I suspect that the United States is concerned about Russia becoming involved in the war in Syria” on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, he argued.
A senior Pentagon official has confirmed that the US “oceanographic ships,” which are operating in waters off the coast of Russia, are actually gathering intelligence on the country.
The US military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, made the remarks in response to a question asked by a Fox News reporter.
US intelligence ships, aircraft, and satellites are all monitoring Russia, which has upped its military spending in recent years.
Ties between Washington and Moscow deteriorated after US-backed forces ousted Ukraine’s elected president Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014.
The US and its allies have been accusing Moscow of sending troops into eastern Ukraine in support of the pro-Russian forces, but Moscow has strongly denied involvement in Ukraine's crisis.