Top Russian diplomats blast US, NATO over Ukraine aims

Senior Russian diplomats have lashed out at the US for pushing a massive publicity campaign to win public support for any “anti-Russia decisions” at the NATO summit currently underway in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.

"Every possible effort is being made to prepare local public opinion for the acceptation of any anti-Russian decisions that will be taken in Vilnius in the coming days,” said Russia’s Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov in a statement posted on the Embassy’s Telegram channel late Monday night.

“On the eve of the NATO Summit, the atmosphere in the US information landscape has heated up to the limit,” he further noted, insisting that the situation in the Ukraine conflict continues to degrade “to the most unfavorable outcome” in what he referred to as “the confrontation between Russia and the NATO countries.”

“The decisions of the West are posing increasingly insurmountable obstacles to a way out of the acutest political and military crisis, fraught with the most serious consequences for international security," Antonov also warned amid reports that some members of the US-led military alliance are pushing win approval for Ukraine’s NATO accession despite declared opposition by US President Joe Biden.

This is while Russia’s senior security negotiator in Vienna, Konstantin Gavrilov, insisted in an interview with RIA state news agency that the West is “losing” the war in Ukraine.

"Both the United States and NATO understand that time is not working for them,” Gavrilov said, adding, “They are losing in Ukraine."

Antonov, meanwhile, further drew attention to Washington’s double standards and cynicism in its approach to the raging Ukraine conflict.

"The more Americans are getting involved into the conflict in Ukraine, the more cynical their actions appear and the more dilapidated moral principles look,” the top Russian diplomat reiterated as quoted in a TASS report on Tuesday.

Pointing out that Washington has “publicly advocated high human rights standards and ranted about banning inhumane weapons,” he then emphasized that the US is now the one that “is throwing cluster munitions into the abyss of the Ukrainian crisis.”

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“At the same time,” he noted, “it does not bother making any excuses; the only thesis the US is pushing is that it is necessary to defeat Russians."

Antonov’s comments came in apparent reaction to US efforts to justify delivering the globally banned cluster bombs to Ukraine by reasoning that civilian casualties would occur anyway in case Russians win the battle against Ukraine.

“We have taken note of… [NSC spokesman] John Kirby’s statements about the provision of cluster munitions to Ukraine. The official de facto confessed to the United States committing war crimes during the Ukraine conflict,” Antonov said in a statement on Sunday.

He further emphasized that the US could not care less about causing even more death and destruction far away from its borders after the White House National Security Council spokesman acknowledged that some civilians “will likely be hurt” by the US-supplied cluster bombs.

The top diplomat was referring to Kirby’s remarks during an ABC News interview earlier on Sunday, when he said he believes “we can all agree that more civilians have been and will continue to be killed by Russian forces…  than will likely be hurt by the use of these cluster munitions.”

Antonov further lashed out at Kirby’s remarks, insisting that such twisted logic boils down to, “it won’t get any worse.”

“He overtly stated that civilians would fall victim to US cluster-type weapons. According to the perverted view of the White House representative, this does less harm than the actions of Russia,” he then added in a statement posted on his Telegram social media page.

Meanwhile, with France pushing for a clear path to Ukraine's NATO membership, but Germany urging caution, Russian diplomats also claimed that divergences have been narrowing in the effort by Ukraine to join NATO.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba of Ukraine said NATO member states reached a consensus to drop the Membership Action Plan (MAP) requirement for Ukraine’s bid to join the alliance.

MAP is a list of political, economic, and military goals other Eastern European nations had to meet before joining NATO.

"Following intensive talks, NATO allies have reached a consensus on removing MAP from Ukraine's path to membership. I welcome this long-awaited decision that shortens our path to NATO. It is also the best moment to offer clarity on the invitation to Ukraine to become member," Kuleba tweeted on Monday.

Despite the reported consensus, some NATO members, have had reservations, wary of any step they fear could draw the military alliance into a direct conflict with Russia, potentially sparking a global war.

The war in Ukraine began after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the launch of a "special military operation" in the ex-Soviet republic on February 24, 2022, to “demilitarize” two eastern Ukrainian regions amid Kiev's vaulting ambitions to join NATO, which Moscow deems a redline.

Moscow has repeatedly warned Ukraine against its NATO membership proposals, calling the move “purely destabilizing.”

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