"The leadership of our country has repeatedly declared and continues to declare its readiness to continue solving outstanding problems through diplomacy. <…> Every state has the right to protect its territory and borders. The Russian Federation, the United States, or any other country is no exception. Russian troops are on our sovereign territory. We don’t threaten anyone. Why do other countries try to dictate to us where can we deploy our troops and how many? I would like to emphasize once again that this is our own territory. Can one even imagine that Russia will demand the U.S. not to deploy its troops in Alaska or Florida? I am sure that such a requirement would be unacceptable for the United States.," he said in an interview with CBS, according to TASS.
The West and Kiev have recently been echoing allegations about Russia’s potential invasion of Ukraine. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov castigated these claims as "empty and unfounded", serving as a ploy to escalate tensions, pointing out that Russia did not pose any threat whatsoever to anyone. However, Peskov did not rule out the possibility of provocations aimed at justifying such claims and warned that attempts to use military force to resolve the crisis in southeastern Ukraine would have serious consequences.
ZZ/PR