Russia and other states hostile to the United States may be involved in organizing protests in the United States, which have grown into mass pogroms and vandalism, says Susan Rice, a former national security adviser to former US President Barack Obama.
“The handwriting of Russia is felt in what is happening. We cannot allow extremists and foreign actors to distract us from the genuine problems that exist in our country, ”Rice told CNN this weekend.
According to Rice, foreign countries “for many years” are trying to sow discord in America in the midst of the crisis, most recently through social networks.
“They take any controversial painful problem and incite both sides,” she said. “Their goal is not just to put the United States in an awkward position, but to cause a split in our country.”
Rice commented on in the Kremlin - Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov called such words insinuations.
“Any insinuations, like the one you mentioned, of course, are completely wrong, erroneous, and, as far as we understand, such insinuations can in no way reflect Washington’s official point of view,” Peskov said, answering a question about as the Kremlin regards such statements.
Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also answered Susan Rice's words.
“Today you are repeating this nonsense with a CNN journalist, using dirty methods of manipulating information like fake news, and you are not backing up your accusations with absolutely no facts. Your CNN interview is a great example of blatant propaganda, ”Zakharova wrote on her Facebook.
According to Konstantin Blokhin, a leading researcher at the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in the United States there is a racial problem caused by stratification of society, which the political establishment of the country cannot solve.
“Therefore, representatives of the US establishment are now trying to move the arrows to Russia, although it was not the Russian police who killed George Floyd,” the expert noted.
Konstantin Blokhin added that the current protests were spurred by the difficult economic situation and rising unemployment caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
“The situation in the United States today is comparable to the Great Depression,” the political scientist said.
Chronicle of Riots
Recall that riots in the United States began after the death of 46-year-old African American George Floyd, who was arrested on May 25 in Minneapolis. According to media reports, the man was detained while trying to pay for purchases in a store with a fake bill or bank check.
A video of his detention was published on the network, which shows how one of the police officers pressed Floyd with his knee to the ground, pressing hard on his neck. The man complained several times about the lack of air, and then lost consciousness. He later died in intensive care.
- U.S. riots
- Reuters
- © Eduardo Munoz
These frames caused a wide resonance in American society. In Minneapolis, protests began that spread throughout the country. Despite the fact that four policemen were fired, and officer Derek Chauvin, who crushed Floyd's neck, was charged with third-degree murder, the protests did not stop.
According to US media, Derek Chovin has repeatedly received complaints.
Riots in the US do not subside over seven days. According to the Associated Press, at least 4 thousand people were detained by law enforcement agencies. Municipal authorities in more than 40 cities in the United States have imposed curfews due to ongoing pogroms.
Large-scale actions began under the pretext of protesting against police arbitrariness, but quickly grew into pogroms and looting. So, on the eve of the rioters attacked several expensive stores in the famous Beverly Hills area in Los Angeles.
Also, the facts of looting were recorded in Washington and New York. In the city of Seattle, the authorities had to send a National Guard to one of the districts to prevent looting and arson. The governor of Illinois also had to resort to the help of guards after demonstrations against police brutality in Chicago also turned into pogroms and robberies of shops.
In addition, protesters in many cities, especially in the American South, actively attacked historical monuments to the founding fathers of the United States, as well as figures from the Confederate States of America.
Protesters tear down a statue in Linn Park in Birmingham Sunday night.
-> https://t.co/lDlyoMxp6Spic.twitter.com/OHrz2GOlLF
So, in Birmingham, Alabama, rioters demolished the statue of the founder of the city, Charles Lynn.
White House Siege
Particularly fierce protests were in the US capital. Washington is a southern city, and almost half of its inhabitants (46%) are African-Americans. In social networks, footage of numerous fires on the streets of Washington was published.
The nation's capital is legitimately on fire in every direction. This is unreal. pic.twitter.com/hXNJ0LticL
- Samantha-Jo Roth (@SamanthaJoRoth) June 1, 2020“The capital of our nation is embraced by fire in all directions. It's just unbelievable, ”wrote Samantha Roth, a Twitter journalist, attaching a photograph of burning streets around the George Washington Memorial Column.
Protests crept up to the White House. Demonstrators gathered on the street leading to the residence of the head of state, where they clashed with police and Secret Service officers guarding the approaches to the White House.
The New York Times reports that on May 29, Donald Trump, worried about the clashes, took Donald Trump to a secret bunker under the White House, designed to guide the country in case of emergency.
According to media reports, about 50 Secret Service employees were injured in clashes with protesters at the White House.
Donald Trump, like the representatives of the Democratic Party, is concerned about finding guilty of large-scale riots. However, in his version there is no “Russian trace”. On the evening of May 31, he announced that the United States would recognize the Antifa movement as a terrorist organization.
“Violence and vandalism are led by anti-fascists and other left-wing radical groups. They terrorize innocent citizens, destroy jobs, harm entrepreneurs and burn buildings, ”Trump said during a speech at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday.
As explained by RT director of the Franklin Roosevelt United States Study Foundation at Moscow State University, Yuri Rogulev, various political forces in the United States will try to record pogroms at the expense of their opponents and put them in an unattractive light.
“Democrats are already accusing Trump of racism and those white working Americans who voted for him. In turn, Trump accuses the left of the Democratic Party and the Antifa movement. American politicians are characterized by a simplification of the situation when they divide everything into good and bad, black and white, but this has nothing to do with this case, ”the expert said.
In the USA today they are beginning to search for those guilty of pogroms, in mass protests, but they are looking for them not there, Yuri Rogulev added.
“Perhaps the radicals and the Antifa movement took part in mass protests, but there were only a few. In the USA, such protests take place periodically, which means that this problem is deeper. They could not be the reason for these performances, could not arrange such riots from Minneapolis to Los Angeles. They just make scapegoats from them now, ”the political scientist noted.
Konstantin Blokhin in an interview with RT noted that the US Democratic Party through these protests will try to mobilize a relatively passive African-American electorate.
“The situation was the same in 1992, when riots broke out in Los Angeles due to the mistreatment of the police by an African American. Then this led to the fact that Republican President George W. Bush lost to Democrat Bill Clinton, ”the political scientist recalled.