Washington, Feb 25 (IANS/EFE) US Secretary of State John Kerry has accused Russia of lying about not having troops in Ukraine and warned that the US would enforce new sanctions on Moscow in the upcoming days.
Kerry affirmed the presence of Russian troops in Ukraine when asked about it at a hearing of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee.
"Russia is engaged in a rather remarkable period of the most overt and extensive propaganda exercise that I've seen since the very height of the Cold War, and they have been persisting in their misrepresentations -- lies -- whatever you want to call them about their activities there to my face, to the face of others on many different occasions," he said.
According to Kerry, Russia is trying to reopen a new strategy against the West, which the US considers unnecessary and dangerous and has launched a massive effort to convince other countries of this.
The US government would impose sanctions on Russia depending on how the events in eastern Ukraine unfold, said Kerry at another hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Moreover, Kerry added that the pro-Russian separatist movement in Ukraine was an extension of the Russian military and an instrument of Russian national power.
Kerry said that Washington has yet to decide whether to provide weapons to the Ukrainian government to fight against the separatists as requested by Kiev.
--IANS/EFE
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