Russia Proposes Theory for Spate of Spy Balloons and UFOs Over US
A top Russian diplomatic official has claimed that the furor in the U.S. over a spate of spy balloons and unidentified flying objects is an electoral ploy by the White House, and evidence of U.S. exhaustion in the standoff with Russia.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova—known for her outlandish attacks on Moscow’s Western adversaries—said in a Russian radio interview on Wednesday that the U.S. shootdowns and discussion of Chinese spy balloons and other as-yet unidentified aerial objects were intended to “surprise the public.”
“You know that elections are on the horizon in the U.S.,” Zakharova said, as reported by the state-run Tass news agency, in an apparent reference to the 2024 election. “No wonder there will be Pokemons, there will be UFOs,” she added.
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Senators received a classified briefing on Tuesday about three unidentified flying objects shot down by the U.S. military last weekend, which the White House has stressed were not signs of extraterrestrial activity.
Lawmakers said afterwards they received little helpful information and called on President Joe Biden to address the nation and allay public fears about the mysterious objects.
The three objects were shot down shortly after a massive Chinese surveillance balloon was destroyed off the coast of South Carolina.
Beijing claimed the craft was a civilian research balloon and accused the U.S. of sending surveillance balloons over Chinese territory. The other three destroyed objects were described as dissimilar to the Chinese balloon, with little further detail given.
Russia Proposes Theory for Spate of Spy Balloons and UFOs Over U.S.https://t.co/Av7JQ8tCgn
— She/He (@sirimahanthesh) February 15, 2023
Last week, Zakharova said the U.S. reaction to the Chinese balloon was “hysterical,” defending Beijing against accusations of spying and claiming Washington D.C. “continues to denigrate and demonize countries that do not intend to dance to their tune for far-fetched reasons.”
On Wednesday, the diplomat claimed the matter was really about Russia.
“It seems to me that it is simply impossible to continue promoting the topic of Russia, because they have exhausted it completely and reduced it to absurdity, tiring everyone with the topic of Russia within their information and political field,” she said.
“So, I just do not see any other way how they can continue promoting this topic for many years. However, they do need to surprise the public somehow.”
Zakharova claimed that the Biden administration’s Russia policy “has been implemented on a disastrous scale and with consequences for all of humanity.”
The Foreign Ministry spokesperson regularly rails against the U.S. and its Western allies. Attacks from Zakharova and other top Russian diplomats have taken on fresh vitriol since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
On Tuesday, Zakharova blamed the U.S. for the carnage in Ukraine in a post on her official Telegram channel. “American neo-liberals have destroyed Ukraine and are exterminating the Ukrainian people,” she wrote. “American hegemonic ambitions are leading to colossal sacrifices.”
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in December that Russia was already at war with the “collective West,” claiming that NATO and European Union backing for Ukraine constitutes aggression against Moscow.
