WASHINGTON, December 5. /TASS/. Russia poses no threat to any country and has the sovereign right to deploy troops on its territory, while earlier "hysterical estimations" of the U.S. officials on the alleged Russian preparations for invasion in Ukraine proved to be wrong, Russia’s embassy in Washington announced on Saturday.
This is how the Russian diplomatic mission responded to a request from the Washington bureau of the Financial Times to comment on the report in the US media that Moscow was allegedly planning a large-scale invasion of Ukraine with the participation of up to 175,000 troops in early next year.
"Russia is not a threat to any country. The deployment of Russian troops on the national territory is our sovereign right and no one's business," the diplomatic mission stressed.
"It is NATO and its member states that are recklessly moving their military forces and infrastructure to the Russian borders," the Russian diplomats noted.
"Last spring hysterical estimations of the United States officials on alleged Russian preparations for invasion in Ukraine proved to be wrong," they recalled.
"What needs to be done by Washington is to make Zelensky's government implement the Minsk agreements," they added.
In particular, the Washington Post reported about the assumptions of the U.S. intelligence regarding the alleged Russian preparations to invade Ukraine. The newspaper referred to an unclassified report from the American intelligence services.
Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is registering an information campaign of Western countries, which is aimed at presenting Moscow as a threat to the settlement process in Ukraine. He did not rule out that this campaign was cover up "aggressive thoughts that may take place in Kiev." Peskov noted that "it is completely wrong to associate any movements of the Russian armed forces across the territory" of Russia with aggressive plans.