Russia, US may fall into 'abyss of open armed conflict', Moscow warns

A senior Russian diplomat has warned that the US and Russia are on the verge of an "open armed conflict" just two days after a suspected drone attack at the Kremlin that Moscow has blamed on Washington and Kiev.

"We are working on preventing a fall of our relations with the US into the abyss of an open armed conflict," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in a TV interview on Friday, RT reported. "We are already on the verge of this abyss."

Russia says Wednesday's drone incident was a US-backed attempt by Ukraine to assassinate President Vladimir Putin.

Slamming "Russiaphobic" policies that are pursued by Washington, the diplomat said the US should "think of its own safety."

"The anger and hatred towards Russia with which Washington acts in a situation in which it frankly should think of its own safety, is inexplicable," he said.

"No real diplomacy" regarding the Ukraine conflict is possible at the moment between the two nations because the US "has bet on further escalation," the diplomat said, pointing to Washington's "hybrid war" against Russia.

"The US has long been a direct participant in the conflict and has long been waging an open hybrid war against my nation," he noted.

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Washington has denied involvement in the drone incident with John Kirby saying that the US does not encourage or enable Ukraine to strike outside its borders.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also said that Kiev had nothing to do with the reported overnight incident.

Ryabkov further said the US and Ukraine's claims of non-involvement in the incident were "not convincing anyone" and are reminiscent of "how they attempted to pretty much blame us for the bombing of the Nord Stream."

He stressed Russia's readiness to "use any means at its disposal" to deter threats to its security and the safety of its leadership.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov slammed the drone incident as a "hostile act", pledging that Russia would respond with "concrete action."

"It was clearly a hostile act, it is clear that the Kiev terrorists could not have committed it without the knowledge of their masters," he said, referring to the US's involvement.

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The remarks come as some observers see the conflict in Ukraine as the US and NATO's proxy war against Russia, mainly because of their major military aid to Kiev.

As per a report by TASS in January, Ukraine has received Western military aid of around $48.5 billion worth since the start of the war, which is practically equal to Russia’s 2022 defense budget.

The overall aid, received by the Ukrainian government from Western countries and international organizations since the start of the war, is estimated at more than $150.8 billion in Ukraine, the report said.

Therefore, total Western aid to Ukraine since late February 2022 exceeded the Ukrainian budget - estimated by $55.5 billion - by almost three times, the news agency said.

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