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| Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky |
MOSCOW, Sept 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Moscow has criticized the relationship between Ukraine and the United States after a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“They are friends not because of each other, but against Russia,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, according to Interfax news agency.
“This can only cause regret,” said Peskov, who was accompanying President Vladimir Putin on a trip to Russia’s far east.
His statement came after the White House announced a new 60-million-dollar security assistance package to include Javelin anti-armour systems and other capabilities to enable Ukraine “to more effectively defend itself against
Russian aggression,” according to a joint statement issued after the talks.
Ukrainian government forces have been fighting Moscow-backed rebels in parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions along the Russian border for more than seven years with an estimated 13,000 people killed so far, according to UN estimates.
The United States and Ukraine also said they continue to oppose the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline project, “which we view as a threat to European energy security.”
Kiev fears a loss of income from transit fees if Russia only transports gas directly to Germany and bypasses Ukraine via the soon to be completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Peskov said Russia “categorically disagrees” with the attitude that the gas project is a threat to Europe and Ukraine. “This is an exclusively commercial project that cannot pose a threat to anyone,” he said. — NNN-AGENCIES
