MOSCOW, February 16. /TASS/. The Western mass media went to great lengths trying to trigger real war in Ukraine, but all their content has nothing to do with the reality, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on Wednesday.
"To the regret of many Western mass media, once again the war failed to begin. They had gone to great lengths trying to make it a reality. Possibly, their pages were scenes of ferocious battles, but all this has nothing to do with the reality," Zakharova said.
"In the previous days no war happened, but they don’t get upset and keep waiting for it with a tenacity worthy of a better occasion," Zakharova added.
"For the first time ever in the history of humanity not only a suspect aggressor country, whose role was assigned to Russia by the collective West, but also a potential victim country in the American media show both denied all plans, stubbornly dictated by the Anglo-Saxon mass media."
Zakharova said that Russia and Ukraine, while adhering to fundamentally different views on many issues, symmetrically stated there were no facts indicating preparations for an invasion.
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.