Russia Considers Downgrading Relations with the West

NATO countries led by the USA and their allies are becoming increasingly involved in the armed conflict, supplying Ukraine with weapons, ammunition, and money. For this reason, the Kremlin said for the first time that Russia was considering downgrading diplomatic relations with the West.

“The issue of downgrading diplomatic relations is standard practice for states facing hostile or unfriendly manifestations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the possibility of such a move. “In connection with the growing involvement of the West in the conflict in Ukraine,” Peskov emphasized, “Russian Federation cannot but consider different options for responding to this hostile interference of the West in the Ukrainian crisis.”

No concrete decision has been made at this point, but much will depend on NATO’s response to the new Russian offensive, in which the Russian army destroyed three US HIMARS missile systems and eliminated numerous but unidentified “foreign military specialists who were operating them.” It is unclear which foreign specialists this concerns, but according to some rumors leaking out of Kiev, they are Polish military personnel who have been in Ukraine for some time as “instructors” but are actually fighting alongside the Ukrainians. On Monday, June 24, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said during a telephone conversation with Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin that there was “a risk of further escalation due to the supply of US weapons to Ukrainian forces.”