MOSCOW, February 16. /TASS/. Those who are behind the threats the Russian embassy in Turkey has been receiving in the recent days may not understand that they are spurring a chain reaction of xenophobia, hatred and animosity, Russian Ambassador to Turkey Alexei Yerkhov said in an interview with the Zvezda television channel on Sunday.

Yerkhov said earlier he was receiving threats in the wake of a recent flare-up in the Syrian region of Idlib. According to the Russian embassy’s spokesperson, Irina Kasimova, the Turkish authorities had taken extra measures to ensure security of the embassy.

"Those who write them [the threats] may not understand that they are spurring a chain reaction of xenophobia, hatred and animosity that may manifest itself in life after all. Many specialists now recall that the propaganda situation of these days have much in common with the one of five years ago and we all remember it only too well what it ended in back then," he said, adding that such threats and insulting remarks were inadmissible because "they are not about the embassy but about Russia and all its representatives."

According to the Russian diplomat, threats keep on coming but "the information space around the topic of security of Russian overseas missions, and around Russia in general, has been, so to say, cleaned in the recent hours." "I think this is because of the public interest to this topic. And we are thankful to those who is doing it, because it is also important," he noted.

He said he had no fears concerning his own security as Turkey’s measures were quite efficient. "Naturally, the ambassador is safe, out of danger. But we cannot employ a security officer for each of the our foreign missions’ staff member," Yerkhov said.

He called for "utter caution and utter discretion" in such matters not to spark hatred between peoples. "It is important because such atmosphere in society may jeopardize the entire architecture of Russian-Turkish relations. It is a big and very important for our countries and peoples complex of ties that has been laboriously built in the recent year through scrupulous and painstaking efforts of tens of thousands of people, beginning from our presidents, Vladimir Putin and Tayyip Erdogan, who have made a serious personal contribution to the development of bilateral relations," he stressed. "Our countries need each other, our countries are interested in each other, and it is our duty to preserve and augment this potential.".