Russia slams U.S. provocation ahead of Lavrov-Blinken talks

MOSCOW, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) — The Russian Foreign Ministry on Saturday criticized the U.S. Department of State for publishing a fact sheet full of false information about Russia’s policy on Ukraine.

The Russian ministry in a commentary called the sheet “an overt provocation” by Washington to publish the “Fact vs. Fiction: Russian Disinformation on Ukraine” just a day before Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Geneva on Friday.

The Russian Foreign Ministry provided article-by-article refutation on the U.S. fact sheet, saying that since Dec. 15, 2021, when Moscow officially sent Washington its draft treaty and agreement on security guarantees, the U.S. side has mostly made obvious attempts to drag out discussions at expert levels and in various formats.

Meanwhile, the United States and its Western allies have launched a “very toxic information and propaganda campaign” by depicting Russia as an “aggressor,” an “enemy of civilized Europe” and a “threat” to the international stability, the ministry said.

It also blasted the Western countries’ “endless threats of painful sanctions against Russia that are designed to bleed our economy dry.”

The Lavrov-Blinken negotiations in Geneva on Friday ended with no breakthroughs in the establishment of legally binding security guarantees between Russia and the West, with the Ukrainian crisis as a core issue.

Also Read

Indonesia reports 1st two deaths from Omicron variant

JAKARTA, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's Ministry of Health confirmed the first...