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Moscow Slams US: Naval Blockade would Mean War

Moscow Slams US: Naval Blockade would Mean War
folder_openRussia access_time5 years ago
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Local Editor

The head of the Russian Senate’s Information Policy Committee, Aleksey Pushkov, warned that the attempts to use the US Navy to block Russia’s trade would amount to a declaration of war.

Pushkov’s statement came in response to the US internal secretary’s idea of impeding Russia’s energy trade through a blockade.

“A US blockade of Russia would be equal to a declaration of war under international law,” he said on a report that US Internal Secretary Ryan Zinke suggested the US could use the navy to block Russian energy from hitting Middle East markets.

Pushkov also called Zinke’s claim that trade expansion is the real reason behind Russia’s involvement in Syria “absolute nonsense.”

The very idea that Russia could potentially supply energy to the Middle East, which is literally “oozing with oil,” is absolutely detached from reality, Pushkov said. Indeed, Russia does not supply any energy to the region, which is itself a major oil exporter, and has never announced plans to do so.

The Russian senator added that Zinke’s statement is “on par” with Sarah Palin’s claim that she was qualified to talk about Russia since “they’re our next-door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia here from Alaska.” The former Alaska governor made the statement in an interview when she was the Republican vice-presidential candidate in the 2008 US election.

Attempts to exert pressure on Russia “are not going to end in anything good,” a member of the Russian Senate’s Defense and Security Committee, Franz Klintsevich, told journalists, adding that they would lead “to a major scandal” at the very least, and Washington “should clearly understand it.”

Russian MPs called Zinke’s words “disturbing.” “It is unsettling that our partners once again resort to threats, sanctions and unfriendly actions instead of discussing the pressing international issues,” a member of the State Duma International Affairs Committee, Anton Morozov, said. He also said that Russia “has something to respond with” but that such actions would only lead to an escalation of tensions, and called for dialog instead.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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