Secretary of State John Kerry said Russia has been engaging in a “propaganda” campaign — the likes of which hasn’t been seen since Cold War days — about its military mission against Ukraine and outright lying to the United States.
“Russia has 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,” he told lawmakers, Agence France-Presse reported. “And they have been persisting in their misrepresentations — lies — whatever you want to call them — about their activities to my face, to the face of others, on many different occasions.”
Mr. Kerry didn’t express support for sending in U.S. weapons to Kiev to help Ukraine’s military fight off pro-Russian rebel fighters who have taken up arms in the east, though. But he did state clearly that he thought Russia was purposely deceiving the world about its own troops and weapons in Ukraine.
When asked if he thought Russia was lying on this count, Mr. Kerry said, “Yes,” AFP reported.
He went on: “Russia is engaged in a massive effort to sway nations, to appeal to them, reach out to them and fundamentally, tragically, sort of reigniting a new kind of East-West zero sum game that we think is dangerous and unnecessary, frankly.”
But he also patted Washington on the head for “doing a pretty good job of standing up for Ukrainian sovereignty,” he said, AFP reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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