The Kremlin has officially called the United States an “enemy country” for the first time, showing how bad things are between Moscow and Washington.
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Dmitry Peskov, who speaks for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said, “They see us as an enemy, and we see them as an enemy too.”
Agentstvo, a Russian investigative website, confirmed that Russia had never before called the US an enemy.
This came after Scott Ritter, a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer, said he was stopped from going to Russia.
Ritter, who had been convicted of sex offenses before, had his passport taken away by US border officials when he tried to fly from New York to Istanbul, where he planned to go to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in Russia.
Ritter told TASS, a Russian news agency, about what happened, saying he was taken off his flight and not allowed to continue his trip.
Peskov talked about this at the briefing, saying it was part of a “crazy campaign” to stop Americans from interacting with Russia.
He said it might make sense if it had to do with Ritter’s past work in intelligence.