Russia complains to head of US embassy about "American PMC" in Russia's Kursk Oblast

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia has summoned Stephanie Holmes, Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, and told her about the participation of "American private military company" in the fighting in Kursk Oblast.

In its statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry claimed that it had expressed its protest to Holmes "in connection with provocative actions of American reporters who illegally infiltrated Kursk Oblast for propagandist reporting of crimes of Kyiv’s regime".

The Russian Foreign Ministry did not like "the evidence of the participation of an American PMC on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during their invasion of the territory of the Russian Federation".

The statement says that "competent institutions" of Russia are already preparing to hold "the American citizens involved in these crimes" accountable.

On 20 August Russian media outlets actively spread the message that representatives of Forward Observation Group, an American company, were present in the territory of Kursk Oblast, referring to its four-days-old post on Instagram.

Russian propagandists believe that this refutes the statement by the US that it was not involved in planning and carrying out the operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Earlier, American Democratic Senator Mark Kelly stated that Ukraine’s decision to start the operation in the territory of Kursk Oblast may change the course of the war unleashed by Russia.