US May Launch UN Showdown With Russia If 'Ukrainian Crisis Escalates'

The Biden administration is contemplating staging "a high-profile public showdown" with Russia at the UN Security Council (UNSC) in case of an escalation of "the Ukrainian crisis", the US news outlet Foreign Policy (FP) has reported.

FP quoted an unnamed US source as saying that "there is a value to bringing attention to the crisis. It would demonstrate how isolated Russia is in the Security Council, and on the world stage".

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Additionally, Washington wants to take advantage of the UNSC venue in order to "place a wedge between Russia and its most powerful ally, China, which has been one of the council's proponents of defending the territorial sovereignty of UN member states", according to the news outlet.

At the same time, Foreign Policy admits that "there is little concrete the United States can do at the UN to compel Russia, which wields veto power in the Security Council, to stand down in Ukraine".

Russia Warns US Against 'Information Pressure'

The claims come as the Russian Embassy to the US described the recent remarks by the White House about Moscow's alleged preparations for an invasion of Ukraine as something that confirms "the incessant information pressure" on Russia.

"What's more, the same scenario is repeated: there is a 'stuffing' of a sensation, which then, repeated many times by the media, turns into the main news", the Russian Embassy said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.

The Russian diplomats also urged Washington to engage in substantive work on security guarantees and resolve pressing global issues via dialogue.

The statement was issued in response to White House press secretary Jen Psaki arguing that the US has information that Russia is planning to fabricate a pretext for an invasion of Ukraine by using operatives to carry out a false flag event.

In a separate development on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov underscored that the prospects of reaching agreements on Moscow's security guarantee proposals depends on the US rather than its allies. The issue was high on the agenda of talks between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and American counterpart Wendy Sherman earlier this week.

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The draft agreements on security guarantees, made public by the Russian Foreign Ministry in December, stipulate legally binding commitments by Moscow and Washington not to deploy weapons and forces in areas where they may be a threat to each other's national security.

In line with these proposals, Moscow demands that NATO stop its eastward expansion towards Russia's borders and avoid inviting post-Soviet countries into the alliance, or creating military bases on their territory.

The developments come as Kiev and several nations in the West continue to accuse Moscow of amassing troops near Russia's border with Ukraine, which they claim indicates a Kremlin plan to invade the country. Moscow has repeatedly denied the allegations, saying that Russian troop movements are purely defensive, given NATO's increased military activity near the country’s borders, and stressed that it has the right to move forces within its own territory at its own discretion.