Crimea
Tuesday 17 July 2018
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Russian Foreign Ministry Twitter Account
Official social media account
“While the useless military bloc #НАТО (NATO) accuses us of provocative activities and continues to gnash its teeth in Brussels, we are preparing to watch #ЧМ2018 (World Cup 2018)”
Read more...NATO has grown from 12 founding states to 29 nations. And when the U.S. was attacked on September 11, 2001, NATO invoked Article 5, which states that an attack on any member state is an attack on all members. -
Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom
“Americans always said they had no troops in Ukraine.”
Read more...There are no U.S. troops engaged in combat in Ukraine and the deployment of military personnel in Ukraine for training purposes was publicly announced in advance. -
Steven Seagal
Actor, musician, martial artist
“I am sure that President Putin … is trying to create a situation in which the balance of powers is more stable, and a little more logical and predictable” [as quoted in Russian].
Read more...With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea in 2014, along with numerous Russian snap military drills and violations of the airspace of neighboring countries, Putin has made the balance of power less stable and far less predictable. -
Russian Defense Ministry
“Not a single anti-aircraft missile system of the armed forces has ever crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border.”
Read more...The International Joint Investigation Team discovered and published detailed evidence proving that the “Buk” missile system used to shoot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) in July 2014, killing all 298 people on board, belonged to and was deployed by Russia. -
Alexander Karpushin
Russian Ambassador to Albania
“[T]he main objectives of Russia here are the building of economic cooperation with mutual benefits and the maintenance of sustainable cultural and humanitarian ties with the Balkan peoples. All this certainly applies to Albania. Any other speculation about Russia's ‘aggressive plans’ or ‘expansionist appetites’ is nothing more than part of a major Western strategy to portray Russia as an imaginary enemy of NATO and the EU.”
Read more...Russia has annexed foreign territory, is involved in several regional conflicts, and has reportedly been meddling in sovereign countries’ domestic politics, including in the Balkans. Moscow has repeatedly said it sees NATO as an enemy and a threat to Russia’s national interests. -
Nikita Mikhalkov
Russian film director, TV host
"A veteran of the anti-Russian direction at CNN, Jill Dougherty said: “Much insane news from Ukraine. It’s good news that Babchenko is alive, but it’s a huge blow to Ukraine's reputation; after all, nobody is going to trust their words anymore."
Read more...The mistranslation of the quote could only have been intentional, which means that Russian TV used the American journalist’s words as part of its propaganda war against Ukraine. -
Semyon Slepakov
Russian TV Comedy host and singer
“Russia is ready to host the World Cup. The stadiums are open. The cops are polyglots. That is a quick recap of many years of work.We're not going to lose face in front of the planet. It’s not for nothing we terrified [the planet] with a missile. In general, all is well. But there is only one “but”: Our team, frankly, is sh-t.”
Read more...The International Federation of Football Association, the world soccer authority better known as FIFA, ranked Russia’s national team #70 and labeled it a “worst mover.” -
Vladimir Putin
President, Russia
“We did not leave it [G-7], our colleagues refused to come to Russia due to known reasons at some point. Please, we will be glad to see everyone in Moscow.”
Read more...As Putin said, the G-7 members did refuse to come to Russia in 2014 due to Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine; however, Putin’s claim that Russia has not left G-7 is not true – Russia officially declared permanent withdrawal from the club in 2017. -
RT
Op-ed
“U.S. envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker went to the Kiev-controlled side of the conflict zone in the eastern Donbass region, where he declared American military support for retaking the breakaway self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.”
Read more...Volker didn’t say that Ukraine should retake its territory by force, nor did he say the U.S. would lend military support to such an effort. -
Sergey Lavrov
Foreign Minister, Russia
“Because during the Cold War there were channels of communication. And there was no obsession with Russophobia, which resembles genocide through sanctions."
Read more...The United Nations defines genocide as the deliberate destruction of a specific group, and lists five types of actions toward a specific group that qualify as genocidal. None of these apply to the financial and travel restrictions the United States imposed on Russian government officials and tycoons. -
Alexander Grushko
Russian deputy foreign minister
“For years, European security was based on measures of restraint. There never was a military aspect in our relations with neighbors, who have now taken the most radical stance towards Russia - the Baltic states, for instance. Because of NATO, we now have to deal with a military aspect, it was their choice, it was them who crossed the red line.”
Read more...Russia’s disproportionate use of force during the war with Georgia, invasion of eastern Ukraine, and illegal annexation Crimea have set Russia’s neighbors on edge, prompting an increased NATO presence the only serves as a "tripwire" on Russia’s doorstep. -
Vladimir Putin
President of Russian Federation
The U.S. used Russia to prevent Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovich from using his military against rioters in Kiev, and then ‘cheated’ Moscow by supporting an armed coup, President Vladimir Putin said.
Read more...The Maidan Revolution of 2014 was not a coup, nor was it armed, nor led by "far-right nationalists."