MOSCOW, February 16./TASS/. Media reports about Russia’s allegedly malicious plans towards the Baltic States follow in the footsteps of the campaign to demonize Russia, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told TASS on Wednesday.
"This flows absolutely from the logic of the policy of the information campaign to demonize Russia," the senior diplomat said.
If Ukraine suddenly withdrew from the international agenda and Kiev complied with the Minsk agreements, then the question emerges: "What is NATO for, and what for is all this senseless strengthening of the eastern flank?" he said. "What would they engage in? They set for themselves the task of drawing lessons from the Afghan campaign, made a brief statement about insufficient readiness for consultations with the allies shown by Washington. This is probably what they would be doing," Grushko said.
"If not Ukraine, then it will be the Baltic States. If not the Baltic States, then they will ascribe other malicious plans to us," Grushko noted.
Lately, Ukraine and the West have been increasingly echoing claims of an alleged possible Russian "invasion" of Ukraine ever more frequently. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov branded such information as an "empty and groundless" escalation of tensions, emphasizing that Russia does not pose a threat to anyone. That said, he didn’t exclude the possibility of provocations being whipped up in order to justify such claims and warned that attempts to resolve the problem in southeastern Ukraine through the use of force would have the most serious consequences.