A Russian propagandist has claimed on state TV that the U.S. has declared war on the country following reports of the White House’s approval of targeted strikes on Crimea.
In a video uploaded to Twitter by the account TheKremlinYap on Saturday, Russian journalist Igor Korotchenko claimed the U.S. had crossed a red line by supporting the strikes.
Korotchenko’s comments follow on from a previous statement made by the U.S. Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland.
According to Reuters, Nuland said Washington supports Ukrainian attacks on military targets on the peninsula and has called for it to be demilitarized. Crimea was illegally annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014.
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In the video translated by TheKremlinYap, an account that tracks Kremlin propaganda, Korotchenko hit out at the U.S.
He said: “After the U.S. crossed every imaginable and unimaginable red line, today the U.S. State Department actually announced that it was going to war with Russia.
“I assume that this is how we should interpret Nuland’s statement. There is no need for halftones. The U.S. is an enemy of Russia, a military adversary.”
Korotchenko is a very consistent hawk on Skabeeva’s show – now he has taken up arms against the US and insists that Russia must answer. What answer, – he did not say. It’s a pity. pic.twitter.com/zD0PX5S09Z
— TheKremlinYap (@TheKremlinYap) February 18, 2023
He added: “If it expects massive missile strikes on Russian territory to be carried out with their help, but as if by someone else’s hands, then perhaps we can regard this as a casus belli (cause for war) and react accordingly.”
Korotchenko said he wanted Russian officials to “give adequate, conceptual, doctrinal, and military responses to this audacious statement of the United States, and appropriate measures should be taken. What kind of measures? We shall see.”
Despite Korotchenko’s comments, U.S. President Joe Biden has not called for the country to become embroiled in a war with Russia. However, the country is spending billions of dollars on military equipment for Ukraine.
NATO allies have also continually supported Ukraine following Russia’s invasion nearly a year ago.
The alliance’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Saturday, February 18, that should Russia win, it would signal to other authoritarian leaders that they could use force to achieve their goals.
He said at the Munich Security Conference: “Some worry that our support to Ukraine risks triggering escalation. Let me be clear. There are no risk-free options. But, the biggest risk of all is if Putin wins.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has previously ruled out any peace deal with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, that cedes territory to Moscow.
The Ukrainian leader has vowed that the country will return Crimea, which is majority Russian speaking, to its territorial border.
Newsweek has contacted Michael Clarke, professor in the War Studies department at King’s College London, for comment.
