MOSCOW, November 28. /TASS/. Allegations that Russia is planning to attack anyone are absolutely groundless, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Sunday.
"Allegations that Russia is planning to attack anyone and rebukes that it is behaving aggressively are absolutely groundless and wrong," he said, when asked to comment Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s statement that Russian President Vladimir Putin "must say it publicly" that Russia has no plans to attack Ukraine.
"Russia has never hatched, is not hatching and will never hatch any plans to attack anyone," he stressed. "Russia is a peaceful country, which is interested in good relations with its neighbors."
According to Peskov, allegations about Russia’s aggressive plans may be meant to disguise preparations for a force scenario in Donbass. "We are afraid, and we have already said this, that these allegations might be meant to hide [Ukraine’s] own preparations for a force scenario in Donbass. It would be an utter recklessness," he said.
He noted that the anti-Russian hysteria fanned by US, British and Ukrainian mass media, and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is inadmissible. "We think that this hysteria, which is being whipped up in the US and British media, in the Ukrainian mass media and is supported by Ukrainian politicians, including the head of state, is absolutely inadmissible," he said.
He refrained from answering a question about a list of persons subject to prisoner exchange that was allegedly conveyed via Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "As for the list, no comments," he said, when asked whether the Russian side has received such a list.