MOSCOW, December 2. /TASS/. It is Russia, not Ukraine, that protects Europe from barbarism, militarism and aggression, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday, commenting on Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko’s allegations that Russia is planning to seize Mariupol and Berdyansk.

"After Poroshenko said that Russia is allegedly planning to seize Mariupol and Berdyansk, I can say, putting his own pronouncements in other words, that it is Russia that protects Europe from barbarism, tyranny, terrorism, aggression and militarism looming large over our continent," she wrote on her Facebook account.

"It is due to the current Kiev regime that the present-day Ukraine is characterized by the frenzy of extremists and paramilitary groups, warfare against own people, propaganda and manipulation as a key tool of governance, provocations as a foreign policy concept, rampant corruption, intimidation of journalists and overall control over the mass media, nationalism as a national idea, dictation of law enforcement agencies, the lack of mechanisms of public control, and erosion of power institutions," she noted.

According to the Russian diplomat, Germany’s former foreign minister, Sigmar Gabriel, was absolutely right when he said in an interview with the N-TV channel that his country must spare no effort not to let Ukraine drag it into a war.

On November 27, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (national parliament) endorsed President Pyotr Poroshenko’s decree imposing 30-day martial law in a number of Ukrainian regions from November 28. Martial law is to be introduced in the Vinnitsa, Lugansk, Nikolayev, Odessa, Sumy, Kharkov, Chernigov, Donetsk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, and in Ukraine’s territorial waters in the Azov-Kerch area.

The move followed an incident in the Kerch Strait on November 25, when three Ukrainian warships heading from Odessa to Mariupol illegally crossed the Russian border, entered Russia’s territorial waters and carried out dangerous maneuvers. The Ukrainian ships ignored repeated warnings and demands to stop and continued risky maneuvers, which forced Russian border guards to use weapons to compel them to stop. The three ships were detained. Thee Ukrainian servicemen who had been injured in the incident received medical assistance. Their lives are out of danger. A criminal case was opened in Russia on border violation charges.

Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko said on the occasion of Europe Day on May 21, 2016 that Ukraine had a special mission to protect its Western neighbors from Russia’s aggression, barbarism and militarism.