Russia considers it unacceptable for Western countries to deploy troops as part of a possible future peace agreement for Ukraine and any such soldier will be considered by Moscow as a legitimate target, the Foreign Ministry said in Moscow today, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
The spokeswoman for the diplomatic department, Maria Zakharova, said that Western powers such as Britain know "very well that the deployment of such forces is unacceptable for Russia, but have insisted on it in the draft peace proposals, in an attempt to undermine the process."
"Fully aware of the unacceptability of such a scenario for Russia, the British are using it as another means to undermine the peace process," Zakharova told reporters.
"Any foreign troops in Ukraine will be considered legitimate targets for the Russian armed forces. The British component will be no exception."
Zakharova also stressed that Britain's plan to help Ukraine develop a "Nightfall" ballistic missile is not a step towards peace.
London has announced a plan to quickly develop land-based ballistic missiles for Ukraine to support Kiev's military efforts against Russia, Reuters recalls.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman also stressed that it was unacceptable for the West to continue to claim that Moscow and Beijing threaten Greenland, and said that the crisis over the territory showed the West's inconsistency in implementing the so-called "rules-based" order.
"First they came up with the idea that there are aggressors, and then that they are ready to protect someone from these aggressors", said Maria Zakharova in connection with the West's actions regarding Greenland.
The current situation, she said, "shows with particular sharpness the inconsistency of the so-called "rules-based world order" that is being built by the West".
"We support China's position on the unacceptability of referring to certain activities of Russia and China around Greenland as the reason for the current escalation," Zakharova emphasized.