Polyanskiy Asserts ‘We Don’t Trust British Diplomacy’

Feb. 2, 2022 (EIRNS)—Russia’s Deputy First Deputy Representative to the UN, Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy, bluntly told Britain’s Sky News TV yesterday that Russia had little expectations about Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s planned call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “There is always room for diplomacy, but frankly, we don’t trust British diplomacy,” Polyanskiy told the Sky News U.S. correspondent. “I think in recent years British diplomacy has shown that it is absolutely worthless. I really don’t want to offend anybody, especially my good friends, British diplomats, but really, the results are nothing to boast about.”

With his customary irony, Ambassador Polyanskiy remarked on the latest fear-talk about Russian troops allegedly massed along Ukraine’s border:

“Now it’s already 130,000. I see that inflation is very high these days; it was 100,000 yesterday. I don’t know where they take these figures from and we have absolutely no trust in the intelligence data from the U.S. and from the U.K. I think this is the same intelligence that claims that Saddam Hussein possesses the weapons of mass destruction. The hysteria doesn’t stop, it’s absolutely happening in the heads of Western politicians and not really on the ground.”

As for U.S. President Joe Biden’s comment that trying to predict President Putin’s motives is like “reading tea leaves,” Polyanskiy remarked that “if you close your eyes, of course, it’s difficult to read anything.” He said, “You will not be able to read any book with your eyes closed. It’s up to our American friends, whether to open these eyes or to remain comfortably numb.”

His remarks evidently stung in the U.K., where they were reported in various publications.