{O/C} To a confrontation at the U.N. Security Council where all key players in the Ukraine crisis are due to support their allies and spar with each other over the crisis' impact.
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The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations went on the record today, saying Moscow shouldn't rhapsodise over being able to alter America's plans.
{Soundbite} LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations: Our voices are unified in calling for the Russians to explain themselves. We're going to go into the room prepared to listen to them, but we're not going to be distracted by their propaganda.
Incensed at the Security Council dedicating a session to letting key players in this particular crisis support their staunch allies and square off, Russia's deputy U.N. ambassador took issue with the US' move, insisting members of the council should not support Western countries which are staging what is obviously a public relations stunt. He said it's ludicrous and a shame that a Security Council member is proposing to put its own groundless allegations and assumptions at issue.
With his wrathful reaction, Russia may subject the meeting to a vote on whether it should go ahead. But only when at least nine of the 15 council members support Russia can it stand in the way of a face-off.
Apparently refuting the Russian ambassador's claim, U.S. President Joe Biden's administration is adamant the meeting will go ahead as planned.
While Zhang Jun, China's ambassador to the United Nations, said Beijing will go to bat for Moscow, the head of Russia's Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, waved aside Western warnings about an invasion, saying Russia doesn't want war.
Back in the United States, hell-bent on hitting Moscow where it hurts, lawmakers in the Senate said in the event f an incursion, they want to mete out "the mother of all sanctions" to Russia. This includes sanctioning Russian banks, which could severely undermine the Russia economy as well as supply of lethal weapons to Ukraine.
Those debilitating sanctions are under consideration, as are other harsh penalties aimed at deterring Russia from invading Ukraine and widening its sphere of influence in Europe as the phoney war in the region persists.
The high-stakes meeting will take place later today.
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