Russia is furious at US Amb. Daniel Baer, the US envoy to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the Russian state media is amplifying this outrage

Today, the Russian Foreign Ministry released this statement (translation by The Interpreter).





We note that the latest impermissible statements by Permanent Representative of the USA to the OSCE D. Baer have been made at a meeting of the Permanent Council of the OSCE on 28 August. It provokes outrage that the American diplomat, who has repeatedly indulged in odious attacks against Russia, this time crosses all permissible boundaries of diplomatic decency. His fictitious claims were not, as usual, backed up by concrete facts, but were open insults and rudeness directed at our country in abundance. The unconcealed malice in D. Baer’s statements evidently are related to the military successes of the militia of Novorossiya who in recent days managed to pin down the deadly punitive operation unleashed by Kiev with the reckless support of Washington. We are expecting that the USA State Department will call upon its permanent representative to change such a style of behavior unbecoming to a diplomat of such a high rank at an OSCE platform, which must not serve as a tribunal for such unfounded and rude attacks, but a place of mutual respect and constructive conversation on the key problems of European security and development of collective decisions. Otherwise, there will be nothing to talk about with this personage.

The full text of Amb. Baer’s speech can be seen here. In it, the ambassador makes specific charges about the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine.

Mr. Chairperson, in recent days, and in the last 24 hours, there have been mounting reports of large numbers of Russian military personnel inside Ukraine, columns of Russian tanks and armored vehicles crossing into southeastern Ukraine from Russia, and a Russian helicopter gunship attack on a Ukrainian border post. These indicate that a new Russian escalation, including a Russia-directed counteroffensive, may be underway in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts [regions]—actions that are in clear violation of international law and OSCE principles and commitments. In addition, Russia continues to supply separatist fighters with tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, and multiple rocket launchers. Russia has fired self-propelled artillery into Ukraine and has further violated Ukrainian territory by crossing over the border to fire. We are aware that Russia has sent its newest air defense systems, including the SA-22, into eastern Ukraine.



Notably, Amb. Baer mentions the SS-22s, which is NATO’s name for the Pantsir-1. As we reported earlier today September 1, a US official has confirmed the use of the Pantsir-S1 in Ukraine, which we as we noted was spotted August 28 in Donetsk.

No doubt Amb. Baer’s apt comparison of Russian actions in Ukraine to the infamous street card game of three-card monte in New York City also outraged Moscow:





Russia’s so-called humanitarian aid will not distract the international community from the substantial and sustained contributions Russia is making to the ongoing violence and destruction in eastern Ukraine and Crimea. Colleagues, these days you don’t see it so much, but in the 1980s on many street corners in New York, one could find a man with a card table who would entice naïve passersby to engage in a game—in one version of this game, there was a marble under one of three plastic cups—the hoodlum would move the cups quickly, in front of your eyes, telling you to watch the marble. When he stopped he’d ask which cup it was under—and inevitably the passerby fell for the trick and guessed the wrong one. The Kremlin is playing a hoodlum’s game—sending Potemkin convoys to distract from its egregious actions that are the very cause of humanitarian concerns. Don’t fall for it. Our position remains clear: no Russian personnel, arms, or other materiel—whether labeled humanitarian assistance or anything else—should enter Ukraine without the Ukrainian government’s consent. The government of Ukraine has shown it is committed to providing humanitarian relief with the support of the international community. We have already seen Ukrainian humanitarian aid distributed in communities in Luhansk oblast with the assistance of international humanitarian organizations. If Moscow really cared about any of the people in Ukraine—including those for whom it proclaims a sense of ethnic solidarity—it would stop using them as pawns and start treating them as persons. The Kremlin has zero credibility on humanitarian issues—but if the Kremlin wants to help, then they should make private phone calls and public statements to instruct the separatists they support and sustain to allow unfettered access to those communities in need so that they can receive humanitarian aid.

Putin is now mentioning “Novorossiya” for the third time — the first time was in a speech about the annexation of Crimea in April; the second was last week in an “appeal to the Novorossiya militia” to create a humanitarian corridor for fleeing Ukrainian troops. There are reports that Russian troops shot and killed Ukrainian soldiers as they attempted to flee, while many were able to escape.