"The European Union constantly says that "the ball is in Moscow's court". It turned out that it is a hockey puck. And it is in the game".
This was written by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on her Telegram channel after the telephone conversation between Russian and American leaders Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
The previous US government deceived, betrayed and destroyed Ukraine, and the way the West played with Ukraine's problems is “beyond cruelty“, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in an interview with former US intelligence officer and former UN inspector Scott Ritter.
Russia notes the progress in the bilateral direction with the US and the attempts of the new US administration to restore contacts, Zakharova said.
“We certainly note some progress in the bilateral plan, this is obvious, these are attempts by the US to activate, or rather, to literally rebuild from the ruins, the contacts between Russian and American diplomats, which were destroyed by the previous administration“, she said.
According to Zakharova, Moscow sees Washington's desire to de-escalate the situation around Ukraine. At the same time, she stressed that Russia will act on the basis of concrete steps taken by the United States, not relying only on words.
“I will never become a lawyer for Ukraine, but the way they were deceived, I mean the Ukrainian people, Ukrainians and the state of Ukraine, by the people in Washington, by Biden, Nuland, Blinken and all the others - this is an incomparable deception, they were deceived, they were betrayed, they were destroyed.“
According to Zakharova, Ukraine, after it first felt independence, began to build a “young democracy“, but was subject to “corruption, theft, greed and some nationalism“. “The way they played this and the way they were deceived is beyond cruel“, the diplomat stressed.