crimea kerch college terrorist map
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Did John Bolton, the career Russophobic 'war hawk' at large, just accidentally recognize Crimea as Russia? It appears so. And it may not be so accidental given the realities of the present situation. US Secretary of Defense James Mattis had previously just done the same in a joint meeting with Sergei Shoigu.

Yesterday, US National Security Adviser to the President John Bolton was on Red Square in Moscow and paid tribute to the victims of the massacre of students and teachers in Russian city Kerch, on the Crimean peninsula, formerly part of post-Soviet Ukraine.

The US Embassy in the Russian Federation actually reported this in their twitter.

"John Bolton laid flowers in memory of the victims of the terrible tragedy that happened last week at the Kerch Polytechnic College," the report says.

Also, the American Embassy posted the appropriate photo.
bolton kerch

In the picture you can see that, along with Bolton, the US Ambassador to the Russian Federation John Huntsman also honored the memory of the citizens of Russia who died in Kerch. This makes three top U.S representatives giving their condolences to Russia, not Ukraine, over the shooting at Kerch.

Earlier, the Ukrainian chattering class of nationalist/liberal pundits and politicos chose to ignore reports that Mattis, during a meeting with his Russian counterpart Shoigu, also expressed condolences over the tragedy in Kerch, thus pointing to the Crimea as Russia. With Bolton's 'clarification' on the U.S position, it's clear that this is something Ukropians can't ignore now.

After that, Kiev political analysts have admitted that, by doing this, the United States showed that they recognized the Russian status quo of the Crimea.

Interestingly, it was on on this same trip that Bolton admitted that he came to Putin not bearing a message of peace.

Putin joked on Tuesday with Bolton about the undiplomatic nature of his diplomatic visit in the Kremlin.

"... It is sometimes surprising to see how the United States is taking absolutely unprovoked steps towards Russia, which we cannot call friendly. We don't even practically respond to any of your steps - no, it's all going on, going on, " Putin said, according to the Russian government press agency.

"As I recall, an eagle is depicted on the coat of arms of the United States: on the one hand, he holds 13 arrows, and on the other hand, an olive branch as a sign of a peace-loving policy [branch] with 13 olives. Question: has your eagle already eaten all the olives, are there only arrows left? ", the Russian president jabbed.

"... I didn't bring the olive branch and olives with me," admitted Bolton.

"I knew that," Putin answered, and those in the room laughed.

Putin said he was ready to meet with his American counterpart Donald Trump during a conference in Paris.

"Of course, President Trump will be very pleased to meet with you in Paris ... Despite the differences that exist between us in accordance with the national interests of each country, however, it is very useful for us to meet and find those points of contact that may be for us useful," Bolton assured.