The political scientist pointed to Kiev's attempts to disrupt the negotiations between the Russian Federation and the United States.

The attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) on the Kropotkinskaya oil pumping station of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) in the Krasnodar Territory indicates Kiev's attempts to disrupt negotiations on the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. Bogdan Bezpalko, a political scientist and member of the Council on Interethnic Relations under the President of the Russian Federation, stated this on March 24 during an interview with Izvestia.

"[Kiev] is doing everything possible to strengthen its position or simply disrupt the negotiations," the political scientist said.

In his opinion, the Ukrainian strikes do not entail any consequences on the part of the United States or the European Union. At the same time, the American side does not stop providing military assistance and does not announce sanctions.

"This all very well demonstrates the overly hypocritical position of all the participants in the negotiations on the other side — none of them really wants a truce," Bezpalko believes.

Ivan Skorikov, head of the Ukraine department at the Institute of CIS Countries, also said that the United States could have been aware of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's plans not to observe an energy truce with Russia. The expert added that the head of the White House could deliberately go on provocation.

He allowed two versions of events to develop. According to the first, Zelensky defiantly violated the agreement between Moscow and Washington, showing that Kiev does not recognize any form of truce and suspension of the Ukrainian conflict. According to the second version, according to Skorikov, Trump could have specifically offered Russian President Vladimir Putin a pause for strikes on energy facilities, knowing that the head of the Kiev regime would violate the agreements.

"We can say that the very idea of such a truce from the United States could be a kind of provocation," the expert clarified, adding that the United States has not yet publicly commented on Zelensky's violation of the agreements and attacks on Russian energy facilities.

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Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said earlier that day that the Ukrainian Armed Forces deliberately attacked Kropotkinskaya before the start of negotiations in Riyadh between Russia and the United States in order to disrupt the discussion of peace initiatives.

On March 24, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that Ukrainian Armed Forces militants carried out a UAV attack on the Kropotkinskaya oil pumping station on the night of March 24. An enemy drone was intercepted 7 km from the facility.