VIENNA, October 7. /TASS/. The West’s drive to escalate tensions over Ukraine further increases the risk that its confrontation with Russia could enter its most severe phase, Yulia Zhdanova, head of the Russian delegation to the Vienna talks on military security and arms control, said.

According to the diplomat, Western politicians continue to intensify their military rhetoric. She noted that, alongside plans to provide further support to Ukraine and deploy NATO troops there, "Europe is openly discussing preparations for military operations outside the Ukrainian context," as well as increased pressure on Russia. Zhdanova said the EU and NATO’s unwillingness "to pursue genuine diplomacy based on reality and consideration of the interests of all parties" is prompting them "to inflame the situation and raise the stakes."

"But the more reckless their course and the more openly they declare the goal of inflicting a ‘strategic defeat’ on their adversary, the greater the risk that the confrontation will enter its most severe phase," the diplomat told a meeting of the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation. The text of her remarks was obtained by TASS.