Military exercises and other actions of NATO member states show that they are consciously leading to “further escalation of the Ukrainian crisis” and an open military clash with Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry noted the “irresponsible and thoughtless” statements of French President Emmanuel Macron about the possibility of sending military contingents of NATO bloc countries to Ukraine.
“Western media have reported that a certain number of mercenaries from the French “Foreign Legion” are already in Ukraine. It is difficult to perceive this otherwise as a manifestation of readiness and intention to engage in a direct armed confrontation with Russia, which would mean a head-on military clash between the nuclear powers,” the statement published on the diplomatic ministry’s website said.
Moscow noted a number of actions on the French side, including military exercises and other activities, “which are apparently meant to back up Macron’s statements with a demonstration of Paris’ existing nuclear capabilities,” the statement said.
“These and some other actions of the member states of the North Atlantic bloc actually indicate that they are consciously leading the case for further escalation of the Ukrainian crisis towards an open military clash between NATO countries and Russia as part of the implementation of a hostile course to inflict our country a “strategic defeat”,” the Foreign Ministry summarised.
Earlier, Italian Defence Minister Guido Crozetto said that all countries of the Collective West should resort to all available means of diplomacy to resolve the Ukrainian crisis.
