MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/. Representatives of the United States and NATO who speak about possible threats from Russia are only fanning Russophobic hysteria, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Monday.

"Certain representatives of the United States and NATO have been recently whipping up Russophobic hysteria in Europe for yet another time. Notably, this show follows one and the same pattern each time," he said.

NATO’s officials, in his words, first say the alliance needs to be protected from external threats. "Once hearing this, one might think NATO is an innocent lamb driven into the corner by ‘predators’ personified by Russia and other countries that are not controlled by the United States," Konashenkov noted.

Then comes act two Konashenkov called ‘intimidation,’ when "retirees of the Cold War, such as Michael McFaul [the US’ former ambassador to Russia], Victor Ashe [the US’ former ambassador to Poland] or Wesley Clark [NATO’s former Supreme Allied Commander] rise from oblivion with paranoid slogans about the revival of the ‘evil empire’ and sharpy’s calculations how long NATO could resist before being completely smashed by the Russians." And such statements, in his words, are immediately cited by the West’s leading mass media as "indisputable truth."

Act three, ‘soothing,’ is when "the NATO secretary general comes into the fore to say that rumors about NATO’s weakness are mere allegations. But NATO’s taxpayers will have to take one more effort to strengthen it," Konashenkov said.

He said it is planned to announce deployment of a land force in Poland and the Baltic republics to "contain" Russia at a NATO summit due to be held in Warsaw in July. "And here comes the final act: the Russian threat is ‘neutralized,’ military budgets of NATO countries are increased, comfortable life of NATO’s bureaucracy is once again protected from criticism of taxpayers from the NATO countries," the defense ministry added.