Lavrov: Without Washington’s direct participation, Kiev’s missiles would not have reached Russia

Commenting on the shelling of Sevastopol and other Russian regions by Kiev forces, Lavrov, in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin, recalled the words of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who explained “how ATACMS missiles and other long-range weapons supplied by Washington to Kiev work.”

“For any technically literate person who understands military affairs, it is clear that without the direct involvement of the United States in targeting, in preparing and processing data from satellites, these missiles would not have flown anywhere,” he said.

“The West continues to claim that NATO and the United States are not waging war once morest Russia! This is a pretense that everything is fine, when in fact it is very bad (an idiom meaning here: failure to even market false claims). That is how I will describe it, and they understand that very well. As for our response, the President has said that we will respond, and I am sure that in the foreseeable future you will witness that.”

Commenting on the fact that NATO and Western countries will provide Ukraine with some kind of guarantees of continued support, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election, Lavrov said: “It is inconceivable that all those who say this believe what they say, because the facts directly contradict what the West expresses.”

Earlier, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said that the United States was already working to consolidate its status as a “state sponsor of terrorism” by indulging in the Kiev regime’s plans to strike Russian regions.

Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, during a meeting with Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, called for an assessment of the attacks using American ATACMS missiles on Sevastopol.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov confirmed that Moscow does not rule out a technical military response to the United States following Kiev forces recently attacked Crimea with American cluster missiles.

On June 23, Kyiv forces launched an attack on civilian facilities in the city of Sevastopol using five American ATACMS tactical missiles equipped with cluster warheads.

While repelling the missile attack, Russian air defenses intercepted four missiles, and the explosion of the warhead of the fifth American missile in the air led to many civilian casualties in Sevastopol, where 5 people were killed, including two children.

According to the data, more than 150 people were injured with varying degrees of severity, 79 of whom were transferred to the hospital, including 27 children.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that Washington and the Ukrainian authorities bear responsibility for the strike, as the air missions of the American operational-tactical missiles “ATACMS” are controlled by American specialists based on their satellite reconnaissance data, and the ministry stressed that such incidents will not remain without a response.

The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the US Ambassador to Moscow, Lynn Tracy, following this terrorist attack, and informed her of its consequences.

Source: RT