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Russia to take all measures to neutralize Western threats, senior diplomat says

Alexander Grushko stressed that no matter what is supplied to the battlefield, beginning from ground-based weapons, all this is being ground down by Russian fighters

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko

© Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

MOSCOW, June 3. /TASS/. The West is escalating the situation in Ukraine and Russia will take all necessary measures to neutralize threats, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told TASS.

"We are aware that Western countries are moving to escalate. Therefore, all measures that are necessary on our part will be taken in order to neutralize threats associated with this escalation," the senior Russian diplomat said, commenting on speculation that Kiev is planning to use the Patriot missile system over Russia.

"No matter what is supplied to [the battlefield], beginning from ground-based weapons, all this is being ground down by our fighters. The same will happen this time again," Grushko said when asked to comment on a recent remark by Major General Christian Freuding, the head of the Situation Centre Ukraine at the German Defense Ministry, who did not rule out using Patriot systems against aerial targets in Russian skies.

Commenting on a statement by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that a number of countries had never imposed restrictions on the use of Western weapons being supplied to Kiev, Grushko said: "They have been escalating tensions. They have a strategy, and they have been following this path."

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