At the same time, a high-ranking official of the country's administration did not explain what kind of signals it was aboutWASHINGTON, September 22.
/tass/. The US authorities are sending clear signals to the Russian side regarding the possible aggravation of the situation in Ukraine. This was stated to journalists on Wednesday by a high-ranking US administration official.
"We are giving Russia very clear signals regarding the consequences of escalation," the White House press pool quoted this employee as saying. "This does not mean that we are blind to the dynamics that could lead to escalation," said a representative of the US administration. He did not explain what kind of signals he was talking about.
According to this employee, the Russian side is allegedly "playing the nuclear card" in relation to the situation in Ukraine. Speaking about the upcoming referendums in the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, a representative of the US administration made the statement that the Russian Federation is trying to find "legal grounds" to protect their territory. "Something like a bizarre Russian version of Article 5," the official is quoted as saying. Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington in 1949 provides for a collective response in the event of an "armed attack on one or more" NATO member countries.
According to an employee of the American administration, other countries will not listen to Moscow's arguments on these issues. "In our opinion, there is one fictional Russian legal world, and there is a real world," this representative believes.
As Russian President Vladimir Putin noted in a televised address on Wednesday, Washington is pushing Kiev to transfer hostilities to Russian territory, and the West has also used "nuclear blackmail." As the President explained, we are talking not only about the shelling of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant encouraged by the West, which threatens an atomic catastrophe, but also about the statements of some high-ranking representatives of the leading NATO states about the possibility and permissibility of using nuclear weapons against Russia. "To those who make such statements about Russia, I want to remind you that our country also has various means of destruction, and in some components, more modern than those of NATO countries. And when the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people. This is not a bluff," Putin stressed.
