The Russian side handed over a note of protest to the United States due to the increase in Washington's direct involvement in the Ukrainian conflict, the Foreign Ministry said.

“The head of the American diplomatic mission, called to the Russian Foreign Ministry, was demarched on February 21 in connection with the expanding involvement of the United States in hostilities on the side of the Kyiv regime,” the message says.

As specified in the Foreign Ministry, the note handed over to Ambassador Lynn Tracy emphasizes that the continued supply of weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the transfer of target designations for strikes against Russian military and civilian infrastructure "clearly prove the inconsistency and falsity of the assertions of the American side that the United States is not a party to the conflict."

Recall that the United States systematically reports on the preparation of new military assistance packages for Ukraine, which include various weapons systems, including GLSDB ammunition with a range of 150 km.

The new tranche was announced the day before by US President Joe Biden, who visited Kyiv and met with President Vladimir Zelensky.

Also on russian.rt.com He promised new anti-Russian sanctions and arms supplies: what is known about Biden's visit to Kyiv

On Tuesday, February 21, the Russian Foreign Ministry told the American ambassador that the current US aggressive course of deepening confrontation with Russia in all areas is counterproductive.

“To de-escalate the situation, Washington must take steps that involve the withdrawal of US-NATO military and equipment, as well as the cessation of hostile anti-Russian activity,” the department stressed.

In addition, they called on the United States to provide explanations about the explosions at the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, and also not to interfere with an objective investigation of these sabotage to identify those responsible.

Recall that explosions on the gas pipelines of the Nord Stream system occurred on September 26, 2022.

As the press service of the Nord Stream company later stated, according to the results of an inspection of the emergency site, man-made craters with a depth of three to five meters were found.

The pipe section was completely destroyed.

Shortly after the emergency, the Kremlin stated that the destruction at Nord Stream could be the result of sabotage.

In particular, on September 30, Vladimir Putin stated that the organizers of the explosions "actually began to destroy the pan-European energy infrastructure."

Later, Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev noted that the United States is the economic beneficiary of the sabotage at Nord Stream.

In early February 2023, an American investigative journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh published an article in which he stated that divers from the United States had mined Nord Stream.

The journalist's article said that they were operating under the cover of the BALTOPS 22 exercise, which took place in the Baltic Sea in June.

Later, Hersh said that the decision to blow up Nord Stream in the United States could have been taken out of fear that Germany, which had previously refused to use the gas pipeline, might reconsider its decision against the backdrop of a cold winter.

According to the journalist, the Biden administration initially planned to undermine Nord Stream in June 2022, but at the last moment the White House became “nervous” and postponed the implementation of these plans to September.

American officials later denied allegations of sabotage.

Commenting on these reports, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that it was obvious to the whole world that the US claims that it was not involved in the Nord Stream bombing were lies.

“We understand that they understand that everyone understands that this is a lie,” the diplomat wrote on Telegram.