LONDON, December 24. /TASS/. The Russian Embassy in London has expressed regret over UK Prime Minister Theresa May's anti-Russian statements in her Christmas address. In the statement released on Monday, the Russian embassy said they were suprised by May thanking the UK military for protecting the country's territorial waters and airspace from a Russian incursion.

"An inexperienced reader may get an impression that Russia made attempts to violate Great Britain's airspace and territorial waters. This never happened," the Russian embassy emphasized. "The UK Defense Ministry sometimes advertises 'intercepting' Russian military aircraft and ships, but here we are actually talking about scheduled training missions in the international waters or airspace, or peaceful passing through the English Channel in accordance with international law. We can only regret that even the upcoming Christmas is used by the UK leadership as a pretext for stirring anti-Russian sentiment," the embassy added.

The embassy noted that the UK has never put forward any official concerns about alleged attempts to violate the country's sovereignty by Russian military aircraft or warships.