Washington is pushing Kiev to commit terrorist attacks in Russia — Ambassador to US

The US State Department, with its words about Crimea, is, in fact, pushing the Ukrainian authorities to commit terrorist acts in Russia, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said on Wednesday.

When asked to comment on the statements of the US State Department spokesman Ned Price, about the actual possibility of the Ukrainian armed forces to strike on the Crimea peninsula using American weapons, the Russian diplomat said:

"We note that the rhetoric of American officials is becoming more and more militant. The State Department, through their detached from reality statements that that "Crimea is Ukraine", and the Armed Forces of Ukraine can use American weapons to protect their territory, in fact, pushes the Kiev regime to commit terrorist acts in Russia."

"Hearing such remarks from Washington, criminals in Kiev will once again feel complete permissiveness. The risks of an escalation of the conflict will only intensify," Antonov said as quoted by the press service of the embassy.

Meanwhile, according to the Russian diplomat, American journalists "support this attitude of the [US] administration and justify the attacks of the Kiev regime on Crimea."

"It is said that the American HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems and - in the future - Bradley infantry fighting vehicles could be involved in the offensive in the Crimean direction. The commentators naively believe that Russia will not respond to strikes on its territory," he noted.