MOSCOW, September 22. /TASS/. The West is "obsessed" with the idea of waging war against Russia until Ukraine runs out of men, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

He was commenting on NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg's recent statement that there is no need to be afraid of using Western weapons for strikes deep inside Russia.

"They are obsessed with the idea of fighting us to the last Ukrainian. This obsession manifests itself differently, depending on the person. With Stoltenberg, it is happening like this," Peskov said.

According to the spokesman, Stoltenberg makes such statements because he is an outgoing NATO secretary-general.

"He will soon stop working where he works. That is the reason, essentially, why he allows himself such irresponsible statements," Peskov said.

The spokesman expressed regret that some people in Europe share NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg's opinion.

"Unfortunately, I think his attitude is shared by very many people in Europe. We have heard a lot of rabid narratives from Europe to the effect that there is no need to be afraid of Russia or Putin, and no need to take them seriously," Peskov said. —0—aam

Stoltenberg earlier said that NATO would not be part of the conflict in Ukraine if it allowed Kiev to strike Russian territory with Western weapons. Putin then called the discussion in NATO about whether to allow Ukraine to use Western weapons for strikes against Russia a substitution of concepts. He said that in fact the issue is much more serious: NATO member countries essentially are deciding whether or not to get directly involved in the Ukrainian conflict.

Kremlin: Some Western politicians understand Putin’s warnings about long-range strikes

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there are "sober-minded" people in the West that analyze and understand Russian President Vladimir Putin's warnings about responding to long-range strikes.

He made the comment in an interview with television host Pavel Zarubin for the program "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin," according to an excerpt that the host posted to Telegram.

"There are still sober-minded people that analyze these words of our president with due attention and understand what they really mean," Peskov said.

Peskov expresses regret many people in Europe share Stoltenberg’s reckless thinking

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed regret that many people in Europe share NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg's opinion that there is no need to be afraid of using Western weapons for strikes deep inside Russia.

He made the comment in an interview with television host Pavel Zarubin for the program "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin," according to an excerpt that was posted to a Telegram channel called Vesti.

"Unfortunately, I think his attitude is shared by very many people in Europe. We have heard a lot of rabid narratives from Europe to the effect that there is no need to be afraid of Russia or Putin, and no need to take them seriously," Peskov said.

Russia sees no alternative to victory in special operation

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia sees no alternative to its victory in the special military operation.

"Historically, there never were any other alternatives for Russia. There is no alternative to our victory now, either," he said.

He made the comment in an interview with television host Pavel Zarubin for the program "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin," according to an excerpt that the host posted to Telegram.

"A war is going on. They are at war with us. They are at war with us collectively. We have a collective enemy in front of us. They openly say that their goal is to strategically and tactically defeat Russia," Peskov said. "This obliges us to treat this position of theirs very seriously, to align our actions with this danger and to continue the special military operation in order to achieve all our goals, to fulfill all our tasks and to achieve victory ourselves.".