Russia will view any foreign military presence in Ukraine as a threat.
“This could escalate into a direct military conflict between our country and some of the NATO members involved in these so-called missions – which would practically mean the entire alliance,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that any foreign military presence in Ukraine would be seen by Moscow as a threat and could lead to a direct armed conflict with NATO.
“We would like to stress once again that any foreign military presence in Ukraine – regardless of its flag, symbols or claimed authority – will be perceived by Russia as a threat to our country. This could escalate into a direct military conflict between Russia and some NATO members involved in such so-called “missions”, which would in fact involve the entire alliance,” Zakharova said.
According to Ms. Zakharova, the administration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “is expecting European allies to take concrete steps to deploy their armies, but in reality, this means that those countries will go to war on the side of the Kiev government.”
However, she noted that Western countries “have not yet reached any clear decisions” on the issue. “The fact that this process has stalled is clearly causing frustration for the Zelensky administration,” the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.
Earlier, on March 12, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also stated that any presence of NATO troops in Ukraine – in any name or form – would be considered a direct threat to Russia. He stressed that Moscow would not accept it under any circumstances.