Democratic congressman on the Intelligence Committee Jim Gimes sees a “sign of desperation” in Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s call for the evacuation of foreign diplomatic personnel from Kiev and his warning about “systemic strikes against Ukrainian military-industrial complex enterprises in Kiev” and “decision-making centres”. The House of Representatives member said this while speaking to journalists in Kiev on 28 May.
The congressman pointed to Russia’s loss of positions in Ukraine on the battlefield and the price that the Russian Federation has to pay for this. Gimes believes that this dynamic will continue in the near future.
“In the next few months, you’re going to see the Ukrainian military continue to reclaim territory, at great cost to Russia. So this is a sign of desperation. It’s (threats – ed.) also a recognition of a way of thinking of a person who is very comfortable committing war crimes,” the US House of Representatives member said, assuring that despite the signals from Moscow, he is already planning his next trip to Kiev.
The Democratic congressman referred to the “polarisation” and “unpredictability” of American politics, but assured the support of ordinary Americans for Ukraine.
“I will return to Washington with the Senator to make sure that Sergey Lavrov’s threats will result in more resources being made available to the Ukrainian people, because everything that Sergey Lavrov represents is exactly what a free people should be fighting against,” Gimes summarised.
On May 25, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced strikes on “decision-making centres and command posts” in Kiev. In a statement, the Russian ministry warned foreign citizens, including staff of diplomatic missions and representative offices of international organisations, to leave Kiev as soon as possible.
Commenting on the statement, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that the Ukrainian side assessed that the overall level of security threats from Russia to Kiev and other Ukrainian cities remained the same as in previous years and months. The Foreign Ministry stressed that against this background, the new Russian threats “are nothing but shameless blackmail”. The ministry said it was ready to assist in further strengthening the security of foreign diplomatic missions that would make such a request.
Subsequently, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had personally mentioned the Kremlin’s warning in a telephone conversation and warned the US side that “Kiev will be a very dangerous place.” At the same time, Rubio noted that “Kiev has been a very dangerous place for several years now.”