Kyiv/Moscow: On Thursday, Russia accused the United States of increasing tensions and ignoring Moscow’s calls to ease a standoff over Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also condemned the U.S. troop deployments on a conference call with reporters. “It’s obvious that these are not steps aimed at de-escalating tensions, but on the contrary, they are actions that lead to increasing tension,” he said. “We constantly call on our American counterparts to stop aggravating tensions on the European continent. Unfortunately, the Americans continue to do so,” he added.
