Washington, Sep 15 (PTI): The US has alleged that Russia and Russian actors have attempted to chip away at the sovereignty of peoples around the world by attempting to deprive them of their ability to make sovereign decisions.
“We've talked about Russia's very explicit and blatant attack on Ukrainian sovereignty in the context of Russia's war against Ukraine. But around the world, including in this country, Russia and Russian actors have attempted to chip away at the sovereignty of people around the world by attempting to deprive them of their ability to make what should be a sovereign decision about who governs them, who leads them, who wins in their elections,” State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at his daily news conference on Tuesday.
“Our concern with Russia's activity is certainly not in regard to any one country or any one region, but it is global in nature. And that's why we wanted to put a spotlight on it,” he said.
The US, he said has engaged with countries around the world to share about Russia's meddling in electoral systems broadly, but also in specific cases.
“When we have, including intelligence information, regarding Russia's interference, we're often in a position to pass on that classified information to government partners. We work with them to devise ways to thwart that interference. Sometimes that is in steps that are public, whether it's through expulsions, whether it's through the use of sanctions or other authorities,” Price said. “Sometimes that takes place in ways that are not public,” he noted.
At the same time, Price said that Russia is unlikely to be declared as a state sponsor of terrorism even as a bill for this has been introduced in the US Congress.
“We believe that there are more targeted approaches that we could take that would hold the Russian economy and the Russian government to account to continue to impose those massive costs and consequences without incurring those unintended consequences,” he said.
“We have heard from the humanitarian organisations, we have heard from NGOs of their sincere and profound concerns that designating Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism would hinder their ability to deliver humanitarian assistance inside Ukraine leaving aside what they could do inside Russia, what they would want to do inside Russia, they have concerns that taking this step would hinder their ability to help the people of Ukraine, and that is something that we take very seriously,” he said. PTI LKJ AMS AMS
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