MOSCOW, February 9. /TASS/. Russian policy does not depend on pressure of external players, hysteria of Western countries regarding Moscow cannot change its political course, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Channel One.

"Let’s not focus on this hysteria as on something that can cancel out, change our policy. Our policy is not formed depending on somebody wanting to hurt us, do harm and so on," she said.

The spokeswoman noted that the situation with deportation of Russian diplomats from Germany, Sweden and Poland is not an unprecedented one, "roughly repeating what we have already seen and experienced." "This has been going on for years, decades, centuries. People, and I mean our collective West, defend their own interests. When they don’t have any opportunities for equitable competition which would be based on law, on legislation, on common rules of regulation, they move on to aggressive policy," she added.

On February 5, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported that Russia declared a Swedish, a Polish and a German diplomat personae non gratae for participating in unauthorized rallies in Moscow and St. Petersburg on January 23. Representatives of these countries’ embassies were summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry and handed notes of protest.

On February 8, as a retaliatory measure, these countries deported Russian diplomats. The Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out the baselessness of these actions.