Russia's Foreign Ministry said Moscow is outraged by the US State Department's "unfounded public innuendos." Moscow criticized Washington’s attitude, saying it is pushing the new regime in Ukraine towards a "massacre of the Russian-speaking population.”
The US has launched a campaign to “blacken Russia” in
connection with the events in Ukraine, the ministry said.
"During briefings in previous days, she (spokesperson Marie Harf)
has produced a load of anti-Russian clichés, which Washington
stubbornly tries to impose on international opinion," the
Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
On Thursday, Harf told journalists in Washington that Russia
plans to supply “heavier and more powerful rocket launchers” to
the self-defense forces fighting against the government troops in
the Lugansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine.
Harf also claimed that she has “intelligence” evidence
that the Russian military was firing artillery across the border
into Ukraine to target Kiev’s forces.
The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that the State Department
failed to provide any proof to back their accusations, “which
isn’t surprising as facts and specifics to support those
imposturous claims simply don’t exist.”
“Day after day, Washington is reproducing the unsubstantiated
fabrications streaming from Kiev; and comes up with ‘fiction’ of
its own. The goal of those actions is clear – to conceal the true
causes of what is happening in Ukraine; to exculpate its Kiev
wards and themselves,” the statement said.
Moscow has reiterated that by supporting the coup-imposed
authority in Ukraine, the US has “pushed the new regime towards a
brutal massacre of the Russian-speaking population, which demands
its legal rights to be respected.”
“The US administration should stop shifting the blame. It
would’ve been a lot more honest and responsible to simply
remaining silent if it’s so difficult for them to admit the
truth,” the ministry said.
The Russian side has also expressed regret that the US State
Department's “dedication to anti-Russian propaganda” only leads
to more tension between the two states.
“However, it is not the first time that something like this
happens,” the statement concluded.
Power shifted in Ukraine in February, when President Viktor
Yanukovich was ousted from office.
The government crackdown in the country's southeast started in
mid-April, after residents in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions
refused to recognize the new authorities in Kiev and demanded
federalization.
The Ukrainian military and National Guard resorted to airstrikes
and shelling in their struggle against self-defense forces in
Donetsk and Lugansk.
On July 10, Ukraine’s deputy health minister spoke of 478 civilians being killed in the conflict, with nearly 1,400 people receiving injuries.
Tensions between Moscow and Washington heated up once again last
week, after the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 tragedy.
A passenger plane carrying 298 people crashed in Ukraine on July
17. The West has accused anti-Kiev rebels of shooting down the
jet. The US believes the militias are supported by Russia.
Moscow has denied the accusations, saying it spotted a Kiev military jet next to the Malaysian Boeing just before the tragedy occurred.
The flight recorders from the Malaysian plane were unsealed in a UK lab, with their memory cards copied for analysis.
The inspection revealed no evidence of tampering with the devices, which may be crucial for investigation, the Interstate Aviation Committee reported on Friday.