Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s answer to a media question concerning a statement by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken

Question: The US Secretary of State went on record as saying recently that the United States was “ready for diplomacy with Russia on Ukraine.”  What is your comment on this signal?

Maria Zakharova: The recent-day public signals coming from the US administration in the context of developments in Ukraine combine provocative belligerence and muddled hints at a possibility of Russian-US dialogue [on Ukraine].

Secretary Blinken has also sent a vague message in this context, saying, “And if and when Russia shows that it has any serious purpose about engaging in such diplomacy, we will be ready, we will be there.” At the same time, he rejected out of hand any possibility of a diplomatic solution just couple of weeks ago.

But the main thing is the real steps being taken by the Americans and their satellites.  And these steps are totally at odds with their ostensibly peace-loving, affected rhetoric.  They are building up arms supplies to the Zelensky regime, there is a growing number of Western mercenaries and military instructors on the ground, the US is increasingly involved in a multifaceted support effort for its clients in Kiev. This is taking place against the backdrop of Zelensky’s lunatic claims that his masters should deliver a pre-emptive nuclear strike at Russia.

Judging by all appearances, this irresponsible demagoguery is beginning to scare even those who demand that “Russians should be defeated on the battlefield.” This obviously explains the Biden team’s hemming and hawing. It is they who have nurtured the evil without giving a thought, as it seems, to the disastrous consequences it will entail for the world and, most importantly, for themselves.