MOSCOW, November 30. /TASS/. The United States is putting pressure on its European allies over the issue of containing Russia, the press bureau of the Russian foreign intelligence SVR said in a news release on Tuesday.

"According to available information the Western diplomatic corps notes growing US activity, aimed at garnering the European allies’ support on the issue of Russia’s containment. The tone of this dialogue is getting ever harsher," the news release runs. The SVR said emissaries from Washington and London at a meeting with representatives of EU diplomatic missions in Ukraine in the middle of November were trying to trigger panic "by further manipulations with false claims about a forthcoming full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent occupation of the Ukrainian territory."

Washington and London, the SVR said, strongly demand the EU countries stick to a solidary stance regarding Ukraine, which, in their scheme of things, is the "sole means of saving the Russophobic regime in Kiev."

"At the meeting in Kiev an insistent call was to expressed to the EU countries for assistance to Ukraine with energy from alternative sources. Washington and London tried to place on the European Union the costs of keeping the Ukrainian economy afloat in the context of unprecedented corruption in that country, the aging of its energy infrastructure and soaring prices of fuels. It was stated that the EU countries are responsible for preventing Ukraine from completely losing economic stability," the SVR said.

"The EU countries’ diplomatic corps in Ukraine is in confusion, for it is aware that the United States and Britain "are artificially fanning hysteria in order to blame all misfortunes on Russia, if the adventurists in Kiev attack Donbass."

"The diplomats see that the Ukrainian authorities themselves are provoking tensions in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Also, the EU countries, which are confronted with acute problems themselves, have no wish to support corrupt Ukrainian authorities. Europe today sees no chances of Ukraine being turned into a civilized and predictable partner," the SVR said.

Lately, both in the West and in Ukraine there have been frequent speculations about the risk of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed such speculations as groundless fanning of tensions, adding that Russia did not pose a threat to anyone. At the same time, he did not rule out the risk of provocations that may be staged with the aim of justifying such claims. He warned that attempts at handling the problem in the southeast of Ukraine from the position of strength would have the direst consequences.