Russia on Friday strongly condemned the overnight airstrikes conducted by the United States and the United Kingdom against Yemen.
Russia’s concerns that the US-sponsored UN Security Council resolution approved last week will be “misinterpreted” and used to justify “illegal actions” have materialized, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a press briefing in Moscow.
“As we warned, to justify their aggression, the Anglo-Saxons are trying to use UN Security Council Resolution 2722, adopted the day before under the pretext of ensuring the safety of navigation in the Red Sea,” she emphasized.
The UN Security Council adopted resolution 2722 on Thursday, condemning attacks by Yemen’s Ansarallah group and demanding “an immediate halt on all attacks on merchants and commercial vessels in the Red Sea.”
“Our fears have been confirmed that the US position in the UN Security Council on the Red Sea is only a pretext for further escalation of tension in the region. We strongly condemn the actions of the US and its allies.”
According to Zakharova, military escalation in the Red Sea region may negate the positive trends that have emerged recently toward the resolution of the Yemen conflict, as well as provoke destabilization throughout the Middle East region.
“Americans have been using such absolutely unscrupulous methods, contrary to international law, for a long time.”
Earlier today, the office of the Russian envoy to the UN Security Council demanded an urgent meeting to discuss the UK and US strikes on Yemen.
The US and UK carried out missile strikes on Ansarallah targets in Yemen Thursday night.
US President Joe Biden said on Friday he ordered the strikes “in direct response to unprecedented Houthi (Ansarallah – PC) attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea.”
The blasts occurred in Sanaa, Hodeidah and other cities, the Yemen Ansarallah movement said.
The action comes after Washington and London vowed to retaliate against attacks on Israel-bound ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Ansarallah said that they will continue to target ships going to or returning from Israeli ports until Tel Aviv ends its genocidal war on Gaza and allows for critical aid to reach the starving population of the Strip.
(PC, Anadolu)
