“Fox News Sunday’s” Chris Wallace grilled Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak over his nation’s annexation of Crimea and the menacing presence of Russian-backed militias in eastern Ukraine, asking the diplomat, “How far is President Putin prepared to go?”
Wallace held the ambassador’s feet to the fire with a series of tough questions, including reported threats made by pro-Russian militias against Ukrainian Jews, U.S. sanctions against Russia, and Putin’s constantly-changing story on the activities of Russian troops in Crimea and east Ukraine.
Kislyak suggested the anti-Semitic threats may have been made by backers of the Ukrainian government, shrugged off U.S. sanctions as inconsequential and largely dodged the question of Putin’s duplicity.
But Wallace still wouldn’t let up. “Today, Ukraine’s acting prime minister said that Putin has dreams of restoring the old Soviet Union,” he said. “How far is President Putin prepared to go? What are his territorial ambitions?”
“First thing, his statements about us having dreams about restoring the Soviet Union is a false notion, by its very nature,” Kislyak replied.
“We are not going anywhere,” he continued. “We just want the Ukrainians to find a way of a dialogue — a new constitution — that would help them to live in a country that is democratic, that supports the rights of all the ethnic groups, including certainly Russians.”
“And we want to have a friendly neighbor,” he added, “because for us all, irrespective of what is happening, Ukrainians are just our brothers.”
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