The US should look at its own conduct in Ukraine in 2014 instead of issuing warnings to Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov stated when responding to an earlier comment by Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The latter warned Russia against making new "mistakes" regarding Ukraine as he welcomed the country's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
"I do not quite understand what kind of mistakes we made in 2014. That year, mistakes were committed by people who allowed the state coup in Ukraine, by the US administration that was in power back then", Ryabkov said referring to the Obama administration.
Speaking to reporters on 10 November, Blinken said that Washington was "concerned" about the media reports of "unusual Russian activity near Ukraine", referring to claims of a military buildup along the Russia-Ukraine border. The Kremlin dismissed these reports by the American media as a part of another fake news campaign against Russia.
The secretary of state admitted that the US had no "clarity into Moscow's intentions", but claimed that the White House is familiar with its "playbook".
"Our concern is that Russia may make the serious mistake of attempting to rehash what it undertook back in 2014 when it amassed forces along the border, crossed into sovereign Ukrainian territory and did so claiming falsely that it was provoked", Blinken said repeating the unsubstantiated claims by Kiev that Russian forces invaded Ukrainian territory.
In 2014, when protesters hit the streets of Kiev over the government's policies, the US and other western countries backed them even as the demonstrators resorted to riots and attacks on government buildings. The West also failed to respond after the rioters carried out a coup in the country ousting the democratically elected president.
The latter provoked an uprising in the nation's eastern provinces over fears that the new nationalist authorities would limit the use of the Russian language, broadly used in that region. The two regions, Donbass and Lugansk, declared independence triggering a civil war in Ukraine in which the US and the EU supported Kiev and its military, who shelled the cities of the rebellious provinces.
The West also perpetuated Kiev's claims that Russian forces were fighting on the side of the self-declared People's Republics in Donbass and Lugansk, while presenting no solid proof. Moscow strongly rejected these claims, stressing that none of its soldiers had crossed into Ukrainian territory.