Russia denounces West for 'artificially whipping up' tensions around Ukraine

Russia has lambasted the West for artificially whipping up tensions around Ukraine with repetitive statements accusing Moscow of preparing to wage a military aggression on its neighbor, calling on the United States and its allies to halt a military built-up in the vicinity of Russian borders.

“This hysteria is being artificially whipped up. We are being accused of some kind of unusual military activity on our territory by those who have brought in their armed forces from across the ocean. That is, the United States of America,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Sunday.

He branded Western countries' allegations as “not really logical or polite,” warning that “a provocation” in the region could not be ruled out given all the rhetoric Washington employed.

Peskov’s comments came just a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that the US has real concerns, which are widely shared with its partners in Europe, over what he called Russian activities at the borders of the ex-Soviet country.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Peskov speculated that Ukraine was probably looking for a way to solve its own problems by force, calling on US-led NATO to stop “concentrating a military fist” near Russia's own borders and to halt arming Ukraine with modern weapons.

On Saturday, a Ukraine-bound ship carrying former American Coast Guard patrol boats designed to boost the Ukrainian Navy sailed through the Dardanelles strait.

Back in September, Moscow warned that NATO would cross a Russian red line if it expanded its military infrastructure in Ukraine, which strives to become a NATO member state.

SS