Moscow: Biden’s threats against Russia not to help reduce rising tensions

Moscow says US President Joe Biden’s warnings of devastating consequences for Russia will not help defuse rising tensions over Ukraine and will rather destabilize the situation further.

Biden on Wednesday said at a press conference that Russia would pay dearly if it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, adding Russian President Vladimir Putin would "regret having done it”.

The response to such an invasion would be “severe” and that the consequences would be a “disaster for Russia”, he added.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday responded to Biden's warnings, saying Russia had been receiving similar warnings for at least a month.

“We believe that they in no way contribute to defusing the tension that has now arisen in Europe and, moreover, can contribute to the destabilization of the situation, because they can inspire some hotheads in Ukraine with false hopes,” Peskov said.

“We are concerned about this,” the Russian official further said at a virtual presser.

Russia and the US-led NATO have recently been at odds over Ukraine. Western countries accuse Russia of preparing for an invasion of Ukraine by amassing troops and armaments near the border with that country. Moscow says that it is free to move its military freely within its borders and that it is taking precautionary steps because of increased NATO activity near its territory.

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