This is classic Dmitry Rogozin (the Russian ambassador to NATO who has a reputation for saying outrageous things). In a mini-bombastic attempt to get the U.S. to back down on its European missile defense system this week, Rogozin threatened to block the U.S. military supply line to Afghanistan (bear in mind that this was to a group of Russian reporters, which makes it look all the more like hot air).
Hah, says Voice of America, the move would go down an absolute treat in the U.S., where growing opposition to troop presence in Afghanistan is coupled with concern about the exorbitant amount of money being spent on the war there ($2 billion a week).
Rogozin failed to realize that if he pushed the Americans on Afghanistan, he was pushing on an open door. Given the needed budgetary cuts and the low public support for the war, many powerful people in Washington would be happy to hand off to the Kremlin all or part of the $2 billion a week Afghan bill.
Evidently, that reality penetrated the thick walls of the Kremlin. Someone sat on Rogozin. Now, he says Russian reporters took his threat “out of context.”