ST. PETERSBURG, April 5. /TASS/. Political games aimed at aggravating relations with Russia in Europe continue, despite the fact that Moscow is opposed to it, Andrei Kelin, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s European Cooperation Department, told reporters on Thursday.

"Games aimed at exacerbating relations in Europe and at worsening relations between the EU and Russia continue," he said at the Ninth Northern Dimension Forum. "Foreign policy tensions are mounting, as we note in Moscow. The terms that were used somewhere in the mid-1980s, such as deconfliction, detente, and the need to ease international tensions, have resurfaced nowadays."

"I would like to stress that further exacerbation [of relations] is just not our way," Kelin emphasized.

Some European countries earlier announced their decision to expel Russian diplomats "in solidarity" with Britain over the case of former Russian military intelligence Colonel Sergei Skripal. The European Union also recalled its envoy to Russia Markus Ederer for consultations.