According to Militarnyi, the Russian Ministry of Defense asked the US Department of Defense to convince Ukraine not to conduct operations on “Navy Day” in Russia.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov stated that Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov personally called US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin regarding this issue.
Sergei Ryabkov added that the phone conversation between the two ministers allegedly had a positive outcome for Russia and helped avoid an escalation.
As emphasized by the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, “the signal from our military leadership and defense minister to the American colleague apparently had an impact.”
According to the Russian side, Ukrainian special services were preparing an attack in Russia on “Navy Day” on July 28, when Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Andrey Belousov were attending the parade in St. Petersburg.
According to Ryabkov, Lloyd Austin was extremely surprised by this news but took it quite seriously.
Afterward, Washington allegedly contacted Kyiv and asked them not to carry out what had been planned.
This information is also confirmed by the American publication New York Times, which, citing three unnamed American officials, wrote that during the phone call, Belousov informed Austin that Moscow had discovered Ukraine’s preparation for a “covert operation” against Russia.
The publication noted that it remains unclear whether Ukraine actually planned the operation mentioned by Belousov.
According to the Russian diplomat, if the Ukrainian operation had been carried out, it would allegedly have led to an “uncontrolled conflict” between Russia and the United States.
At the same time, on July 28, during the “Day of the Russian Navy,” drones from the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry successfully attacked various targets in Russia.
On this day, a fuel depot in the Kursk region was hit. Additionally, strike drones reached an oil refinery in the city of Kstovo.
Tags: Politics Russia russia ukraine war Ukraine USA
