Tag: Kirby

Kremlin ‘lying’ about U.S. involvement in Moscow drone strikes, Kirby says

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied the accusation, and U.S. officials said they had no advanced knowledge of the attacks. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that he’d take any claims coming from the Kremlin with a “large shaker of salt.”
“We don’t attack Putin or Moscow,” Zelenskyy told the Nordic broadcaster TV2 during a trip to Finland on Wednesday. “We fight on our territory. We’re defending our villages and cities. We don’t have enough weapons for these.”
Peskov reportedly said during a press conference earlier Thursday that “attempts to disown this, both in Kyiv and in Washington, are, of course, absolutely ridiculous. We know very well that decisions about such actions, about such terrorist attacks, are made not in Kyiv but in Washington.
“Kyiv only does what it is told to do,” Peskov said.
Kirby said on MSNBC that the U.S. doesn’t encourage or enable Ukraine to strike within Russian borders, saying that “we certainly don’t dictate the terms by which they defend themselves or the operations they conduct.”
Senior administration officials told POLITICO Wednesday they are working to confirm whether the suspected strike was ordered by Kyiv, conducted by a rogue pro-Ukraine group, or a false flag operation by Russia.
During a surprise trip to the Netherlands on Thursday, Zelenskyy reiterated his plea for a special tribunal to hold Putin accountable for war crimes.
“We all want to see a different Vladimir here in The Hague,” Zelenskyy said. “The one who deserves to be sentenced for these criminal actions right here, in the capital of international law.”

The International Criminal Court, which is based in the Hague, in March issued an international arrest warrant against Putin over the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia since the war began. While the court doesn’t have the authority to prosecute the crime of aggression, Zelenskyy said the rules need to change.
“If we want true justice, we should not look for excuses and should not refer to the shortcomings of the current international law but make bold decisions that will correct that shortcomings that unfortunately exist in international law,” Zelenskyy said in a speech.
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#Kremlin #lying #U.S #involvement #Moscow #drone #strikes #Kirby
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

May 4, 2023
Russia seeking munitions from North Korea, Kirby says

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“We remain concerned that North Korea will provide further support and Russia’s military operations against Ukraine and we have new information that Russia is actively seeking to acquire additional munitions from North Korea,” he said.
Russia is exhausting its stores of ammunition while locked in an inch-by-inch battle for territory in Ukraine’s south and east. The battle for Bakhmut, a town in the Donbas, has slowed any Russian advances, requiring forces to expend their ammo and artillery before reaching more consequential areas.
The assistance from North Korea would help Moscow’s forces refill its stockpiles ahead of an expected offensive by Ukraine in the spring.
In December, the Biden administration accused Pyongyang of providing battlefield rockets and missiles to the Wagner Group, a pro-Russian mercenary outfit that’s conducted the bulk of the fighting in Bakhmut.
The possible Russia-North Korea deal was allegedly brokered by Slovakian arms dealer Ashot Mkrtychev, leading the administration to sanction him on Thursday.
“Schemes like the arms deal pursued by this individual show that Putin is turning to suppliers of last resort like Iran and the DPRK,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement, using an acronym for the official name of North Korea: the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
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#Russia #seeking #munitions #North #Korea #Kirby
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 30, 2023
Russia may supply Iran with fighter jets, Kirby says

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Iran is also seeking to purchase attack helicopters, radars and combat trainer aircraft, he said. In total, Iran is hoping to obtain “billions of dollars” worth of military equipment from Russia.
When asked for details on the type of fighter jets or when they may be delivered, Kirby refused to elaborate.
“That’s really as far as I’m going to be allowed to go here,” Kirby said. “We’re going to be watching this very closely to see what, if anything, actually transpires.”
A closer military alliance between the two countries could make Western efforts in Ukraine and elsewhere more complicated, he said.
“It’s not only certainly going to make things in the Ukraine more difficult, but it could certainly make the security situation in the Middle East more difficult for our partners and friends there,” he added.
Last year, the U.S. sanctioned Iran for allegedly planning to sell or already selling Russia weapons, including drones and surface-to-surface missiles.
In December, senior Biden administration officials said Moscow was providing “unprecedented” military and technical support to Tehran in exchange for weapons, NBC News reported. Last spring, officials said Iranian pilots trained in Russia to fly a Russian fighter jet, indicating that Iran “may begin receiving the aircraft within the next year.”
Alexander Ward contributed to this report.

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#Russia #supply #Iran #fighter #jets #Kirby
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 25, 2023
John Kirby denies U.S. sabotaged Nord Stream pipelines

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Hersh wrote on Substack earlier this month, based on a single anonymous source, that the U.S. was involved in the sabotage of the pipelines.
Asked by Bream whether the administration would have an obligation to inform Congress of such an operation, Kirby said: “Obviously, we keep Congress informed appropriately of things both classified and unclassified. But I can tell you now, regardless of the notification process, there was no U.S. involvement in this.”
Hersh is a Pulitzer-winning journalist best known for his expose of the 1968 My Lai Massacre committed by U.S. troops in Vietnam and the Pentagon’s efforts to cover it up. In 2004, he chronicled the military’s torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq. But he has also drawn criticism for some of his reporting in recent years, including his challenges to the official U.S. account of the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine a year ago this week, has relied on its income from energy exports to fund the war. President Joe Biden sanctioned the Russian company behind the pipelines last year.
David Cohen contributed to this report.
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#John #Kirby #denies #U.S #sabotaged #Nord #Stream #pipelines
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 20, 2023
John Kirby: Don’t be surprised by China’s balloon ‘bluster’

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Wang has heavily criticized the Biden administration shooting down the Chinese spy balloon as a “weak” and “near-hysterical” response that amounted to an “excessive use of force.”
The discussion between the two leaders was “a forthright, very candid exchange” which “laid bare our deep concerns about what they did,” Kirby told Fox host Shannon Bream.
He maintained that the manner in which the Chinese balloon was shot down allowed the U.S. to collect its debris.
“Now we have that debris, and we’re going to exploit that debris. We’re going to learn more about this system,” Kirby said.
The U.S. downed the surveillance balloon off the coast of the Carolinas earlier this month, after it crossed the continent over the course of a week.
“We acted accordingly, and believe me, the message was clearly sent to China this is unacceptable,” Kirby said Sunday.
Since then, the administration has directed three additional objects to be shot down, but those are now believed to have been benign, Kirby said earlier this week. “Nothing right now suggests that they were related to China’s spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles from any other country,” President Joe Biden added on Thursday.
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#John #Kirby #Dont #surprised #Chinas #balloon #bluster
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 19, 2023
Objects shot down aren’t from China, likely ‘benign,’ Kirby says

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American forces decided to target the objects because of concerns about potential surveillance, Kirby said on MSNBC later on Tuesday, so they “acted out of an abundance of caution.” No other objects are being tracked, he said.
It’s still unclear what the objects were, and administration officials have provided few details. Senators received another classified briefing from the administration on the incursions on Tuesday, but they haven’t shed much light.
As for the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down on Feb. 4, officials expect to learn more about its payload in the coming days as crews continue to retrieve materials, Kirby said. On Monday, U.S. Northern Command said it had recovered critical electronics including key sensors presumably used for intelligence gathering.
When the balloon was shot down over the Atlantic, some materials floated while the payload, which carries critical information about the airship, sank to the “ocean bottom,” FBI officials told reporters last week. Crews have since successfully recovered parts of the balloon.
But two of the objects shot down over the weekend were downed over the Yukon and Lake Huron, locations that may make recovery impossible, officials said.
“We are working very hard to locate them, but there is no guarantee that we will,” said Sean McGillis, Royal Canadian Mounted Police acting deputy commissioner. “The terrain in Yukon is rather treacherous right now… the same could be said about what’s taking place in Lake Huron.”
Joseph Gedeon, Kelly Garrity and Paul McLeary contributed to this report.
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#Objects #shot #arent #China #benign #Kirby
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 15, 2023