Russia warns US against intelligence sharing with Ukraine, slams 'general phrases' in response

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday that Moscow regularly communicates to Washington the inadmissibility of sharing intelligence with Ukraine, but receives only vague replies. The remarks underscore persistent tensions between the two powers despite ongoing contacts.

US response criticized

"Within the framework of our existing contacts, we regularly convey to American representatives signals about the inadmissibility of transferring intelligence data to the Kyiv regime," Zakharova told a media briefing in Moscow. "I am forced to state that in response to our demarches, the American side, as a rule, gets off with general phrases or remains completely silent."

Middle East war assessment

Turning to the conflict in the Middle East, Zakharova said the war is not unfolding according to its original concept and warned of a tendency toward geographic expansion and escalation that risks, among other things, a nuclear catastrophe. She suggested that calls for negotiations may be aimed at creating "more favorable" conditions for regrouping forces. "Our fundamental position has not changed. We proceed from the understanding that negotiations are the only reasonable way out of the most severe crisis into which the US-Israeli tandem has plunged the Middle East region, and, in fact, the entire world," she said.

Austrian move condemned

Zakharova strongly criticized Austrian authorities for revoking the accreditation of Maxim Cherevik, head of Russian state news agency Tass's bureau in Vienna. "We regard these actions as deliberate and politically motivated pressure on Russian journalists, as well as a gross violation of Austria's international obligations," she stressed, describing the move as a "purge" of the information space from alternative viewpoints using political censorship methods.