VIENNA, November 9. /TASS/. Certain forces in the West are seeking to accelerate the development of an armed conflict with Russia within the next two years, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in a video address to participants of an OSCE-hosted roundtable on the militarization of Europe.
"It is being stated explicitly that there is a high probability of an armed conflict with us around 2029-2030. At the same time, there are signals that certain forces in the West are attempting to fast-track such a scenario - within a two-year horizon - in response to Russia’s consistent progress toward achieving the goals of its special military operation," the deputy minister said.
According to Ryabkov, Russia is also dismayed by the attempts of certain European elites - driven by domestic political considerations - to brainwash their citizens by peddling the myth of a "Russian threat" and the notion that war is inevitable. "They have turned Russophobia into a marketable commodity, a driving force behind militarization," he emphasized.