Putin 'Dreams Of Restoring Empire:' U.S. Pledges 'Further Actions' To Stop Russia, And Defend Rules, Principles

The United States said on Thursday it's 'seen reports' of armed shipments moving from Iran and North Korea to Russia, and that it's 'tightening up' sanctions to further restrict those actions.

"We are taking a close look..."  the State Department's number-two official on Europe and Eurasia told a briefing when responding to TURAN's Washington correspondent's questions on the latest armed shipments reportedly moving from Iran to Russia.

The U.S. media reported early this week that Tehran had sent hundreds of surface-to-surface missiles to Russia, a claim that the Biden administration said couldn't confirm immediately.

Ambassador Yuri Kim was briefing the reporters on Thursday at the State Department's Washington Foreign Press Center on two-year mark of Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine and U.S. support for Ukraine. 

She recalled that in the weeks and months leading up to Feb 24th, 2022, the U.S. was 'seeing clear indications, actions' that the Russians were taking, that pointed towards a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"We made our information public; we shared it with allies. There was great skepticism, and of course all of that skepticism was due to the fact that Putin denied that he had any intention to conduct a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.  He lied," she said.

Since then, she added, the expectation had been that Russia would be able to force Ukraine into quick surrender.  The Ukrainians have proven themselves more than equal to the task of defending their country with everything that they’ve got.  And so far, the U.S. partners, more than 50 countries around the world, have stepped up to support Ukraine’s effort to defend its independence from an unprovoked, unjustifiable, brutal invasion from a neighboring country, a sovereign state attacking another sovereign state.  

Kim went on to add, "More than that, we have the spectacle of a permanent member of the UN Security Council – a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council – breaking all the rules that it’d helped to establish; violating sanctions, resolutions, that itself voted in favor of; and undermining the security of all of its neighbors.  Not an accident that so many of Russia’s neighbors now sleep with one eye open, worried:  Is the action that Putin taking against Ukraine a harbinger of action that could be targeted against them?  Good question to ask."

According to Kim, 'it’s clear' that Putin’s objective in launching his war of choice, is built on fantasy:  "He dreams of restoring empire. He dreams of restoring the Soviet Union.  Who knows what else he’s dreaming of, but it is sheer fantasy.  That is Putin’s objective."  

As for the objective of the United States, she said, they are to defend the rules and the principles that have undergirded the security and prosperity of the American people since the end of World War II.

"... It is essential for us to defend that system.  The objective of the Ukrainians is also, likewise, very clear and simple.  Their objective is to repel an unprovoked invasion and to assert their right to exist as a nation, as recognized by the international community," she said.

When asked by TURAN about Washington's current approach to "frozen conflicts" in the region, and whether Moscow was seeking to for its advantage, Kim said, Russia’s neighbors "know better than anybody else the tactics that the Kremlin chooses to deploy in an effort to control, manipulate, suppress not only its own people, but neighboring peoples." 

As for Russian suggestions that it’s time to go to the table, Kim said, one needs to look at, "actions, rather than words." 

"We need to be serious and we need to be sober in assessing the actions that the Kremlin undertakes.  We should remind ourselves of the brutal reality that this is a regime that thinks nothing of killing fathers, raping mothers, stealing children – thousands of children.  We need to be serious and sober," she concluded.