KIEV, February 14. /TASS/. The Western countries are ready for a serious dialogue with Russia on ways of ensuring European Security, Germany’s Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz told a joint news conference with Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky.

"We are ready for a serious dialogue with Russia on European security matters," he said, adding that the West was prepared to take "effective sanctions" should Russia violate Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

"To Germany’s federal government it is clear that military aggression against Ukraine would entail serious political, economic, and geostrategic consequences for Russia," Scholz said.

Lately, the Western countries and Kiev have been speculating a great deal about the risks of Russia invading Ukraine. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed such allegations as groundless fanning of tensions. He stressed that Russia posed no threat to anyone. Also, he did not rule out the risk of provocations and warned that attempts at handling the crisis in southeastern Ukraine from the position of strength would entail dire effects.