Kremlin Declines To Comment On Situation With Chinese Balloon

Kremlin Declines to Comment on Situation With Chinese Balloon

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday declined to comment on the downing of a Chinese balloon by the US military, saying it was a matter of US-Chinese relations

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th February, 2023) Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday declined to comment on the downing of a Chinese balloon by the US military, saying it was a matter of US-Chinese relations.

"Honestly, we wouldn't want to do it (comment on the situation). The aerostat was apparently Chinese and it was flying in US airspace. It is a matter of bilateral ties between the United States and China," Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

Last Thursday, the Pentagon said it had detected a Chinese balloon over the US state of Montana. Washington insists that the balloon was sent over to spy on military sites, while China argues it was a meteorological airship that was blown off course. The balloon drifted over the US for several days before US President Joe Biden ordered a fighter jet to bring it down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng criticized the downing on Monday as harmful for US-Chinese relations. The flyover caused US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week to call off his first visit to Beijing since he took office in 2021.