MOSCOW, December 27. /TASS/. Moscow and Washington have come close to a point where contradictions will be hardly soluble by diplomatic means, but Russia is against any escalation, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told International Affairs magazine in an interview, published on Monday.

"I would not like to discuss an escalation scenario. I believe that we are close to a point where diplomacy, however crucial and effective, will be playing a subordinate role," he said.

Ryabkov stressed that Russia was firmly against any escalation or conflicts.

"We are not putting forward any ultimatums," he said. "But the logic is pushing us towards a situation where will be unable to reconcile ourselves with the current events, to swallow all this and to pretend that nothing is happening."

The senior diplomat said that his recent warning of the risks the Caribbean crisis might have a rerun was not a "gross exaggeration." At the same time, he remarked that it was impossible to recreate the Caribbean crisis the way it happened in reality.

"Political and diplomatic means must be employed for settling the situation. We have already said how it is to be settled. We are calling upon one and all to take the most serious attitude to this and to avoid looking for something far-fetched or excessive in our proposals," Ryabkov said.