MOSCOW, June 24. /TASS/. The West will face catastrophic consequences if it chooses to confront Russia directly and infringe upon its security, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Izvestia.

He also noted that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of State Marco Rubio continue to maintain contacts.

TASS has compiled the senior diplomat’s main statements.

Consequences for West in case of confrontation with Russia

The West would face "catastrophic consequences" if it were to engage in direct confrontation with Russia and compromise its security.

NATO publicly declares its "super aggressive posture" toward Russia, dispelling misconceptions about its defensive nature: "The discourse that NATO is a defensive alliance can mislead no one. This discourse is far behind us, even abandoned by NATO members themselves."

If NATO develops the Baltic states militarily, there will be retaliatory steps: "If they go as far as developing the territories neighboring us (and the Baltic region in general is in the center of our attention), there will be countermeasures. And the security of these countries will, so to speak, weaken."

"Those who are playing these ‘games’ and trying to frighten us only damage themselves."

Potential agreements on Ukraine

Any potential agreements between Russia and Europe should "align with the framework agreed upon by [Russian] President Vladimir Putin and [his US counterpart] Donald Trump in Anchorage."

Russia is closely observing EU discussions on potential negotiators with great interest: "I can only say that we are monitoring the EU's discussions on who could represent it in talks with Russia. But this is a classic case of rushing things."

Russia will not back down from its position that all agreements reached in Anchorage must be implemented: "If the other side adheres to different approaches, they should think more about the reasons behind their own incorrect approach to this important and serious problem."

There are reasons to believe that the US administration's approach to the Ukrainian settlement is currently "linked to the wording and the demands to Moscow formulated by the most war-loving European group and enshrined, in particular, in the documents of the G7 summit that has recently concluded in France’s Evian."

Lavrov-Rubio contacts

Communication between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of State Marco Rubio "can be promptly organized in the form of a telephone call."

There is no specific schedule for the talks at this time, "this is not a moment to attribute political importance to": "This is purely a working matter. Contacts will continue. There are no doubts."

Strategic stability

Moscow does not intend to demonstrate elements of strategic stability with Washington: "There are clear agreements on ensuring elements of strategic stability regarding the launch of ballistic missiles and large-scale strategic drills. Some elements of the previous architecture in this sphere remain. We will not demonstrate them."

The hotlines between Russia and the US continue to work: "There are hotlines, and they are functional."

Russia-US work on irritants

The Russia-US dialogue on removing irritants is "at a phase of certain stagnation": "There are difficulties in such a dialogue."

The bilateral consultation on eliminating irritants are to take place before the end of summer: "I believe this should all be done by the end of summer in any case."

"The Trump administration is increasingly limiting" the progress on the irritants on achieving agreements on Ukraine favorable to Washington: "This differs from where the Trump administration started the dialogue with us, and this, of course, complicates all discussions.".