Moscow: Countries like Russia cannot be “locked up” behind the iron curtain, the Russian Presidential Spokesman asserted on Thursday, as the US-led West threatened to impose more biting sanctions against Moscow after President Vladimir Putin ordered a military offensive against Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden has condemned Russia for its “unprovoked” and “unjustified” attack on Ukraine and warned that the US and its allies will respond in a “united and decisive” way after Russian troops entered Ukraine.
“Such country as Russia cannot be locked up behind the Iron Curtain. Problems may certainly arise with a number of countries, however we had various issues with these countries before, if not speaking about the current situation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by the official TASS news agency.
“It is simply impossible to isolate such country as Russia with an iron curtain,” Peskov said, using a notional barrier separating the former Soviet bloc and the West prior to the decline of communism.
President Putin announced in a televised address on Thursday morning that in response to a request by the head of the Donbass republic, he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people “who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.” Putin has said that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories.
Russia’s Defence Ministry reported that Russian troops were destroying Ukrainian military infrastructure using precision weapons.
The US has already announced a series of sanctions on Russia to prevent it from accessing Western financial markets.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday morning for an update and pledged that the West would not stand by as Putin waged a campaign against the Ukrainian people.
“I am appalled by the horrific events in Ukraine and I have spoken to President Zelenskyy to discuss next steps,” Johnson tweeted soon after the call.
