MOSCOW, October 26. /TASS/: Berlin and Paris must provide their assessment of how Kiev’s threats of a missile strike at Russia influence the Normandy Four negotiations process, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Tuesday, adding that their lack of reaction raises questions.
"The behavior of our partners on the Normandy Four format - Berlin and Paris - raises questions," the diplomat pointed out.
According to Zakharova, France and Germany do not react to Kiev’s open sabotage of the Minsk Agreements and "the recent degradation to threatening Russia openly."
"We urge German and French authorities, who advocate new Normandy format meetings, to assess how the direct threats of Ukrainian politicians against Russia facilitate progress at the negotiations, and urge Ukrainian citizens to contemplate where the aggressive militaristic statements of Ukrainian politicians can lead to," Zakharova noted.
She noted that Kiev’s remarks regarding a missile strike at Russia and an initiation of a full-scale military operation "cannot but cause concern."
"We doubt that Ukrainian representatives will dare to repeat such threats on the UN or OSCE platforms, designed to defend the principle of the non-use of force or threats of force in international relations. The reasons behind this behavior by Ukrainian politicians are clear. Being unable to fulfill their promises on the improvement of the economy, improvement of the quality of life, on the prevention of linguistic and ethnic discrimination and peaceful resolution of the conflict in Donbass, Kiev authorities seek to shift the attention of their citizens to other topics, Russia in particular," the spokeswoman said.
She underscored that the Ukrainian leadership’s rhetoric benefits NATO, which continues to actively militarize Ukraine and assimilate it militarily.
"Fanning of the anti-Russian hysteria is beneficial for NATO member states, who, under the pretext of a nonexistent Russian threat, actively assimilate Ukraine militarily. According to various assessments, there are about ten NATO servicemen deployment sites in the country already. Two military facilities are under construction in Ochakovo and Ilyichevsk that will be able to receive NATO strategic bombers. This is how Ukraine is being gradually militarized, and NATO military infrastructure is being advanced closer to Russian borders, which will facilitate neither the stability in Ukraine, nor the peaceful settlement of the Donbass conflict," the diplomat underscored.
