MOSCOW, March 26. /TASS/. Moscow calls on Washington, which decided "to flex its muscles" in connection with the situation in Ukraine, to seriously think about the consequences, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday.
Moscow is closely following US-led Operation Atlantic Resolve, in the framework of which "the US is building up its military capabilities in eastern Europe," Lukashevich said.
"[We see] massive movement of fighter jets and tanks [to eastern Europe], columns of armored vehicles riding down central roads and other signs of rapid militarization of the region, which the Pentagon cynically calls ‘the new normal state of affairs’, while referring to regions of east European countries bordering on Russia as ‘front-line states’," the spokesman stressed.
"We consider the continuing discussion in Washington on possible weapons supply to the Ukrainian authorities as deliberate escalation of tensions," Lukashevich noted. "Endless calls for that [supplying arms to Ukraine] in the US Congress only fuel the ambitions of the Kiev authorities," he added. "The supply of weapons from the US to Ukraine is fraught with the disruption of the fragile truce in Donbass and directly threatens Russia’s security," the spokesman stressed.
"We have to take such belligerent plans and instigating statements into account in the implementation of our own defense programs. But that doesn't scare us," the spokesman said.
"We would recommend Washington, which decided to use the crisis in Ukraine to flex its muscles, to seriously think about the consequences of its actions which undermine security in the Euro-Atlantic region," he noted.