US Creates More Threats to Russia's Fundamental Interests - Ambassador to Canada

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States continues to create more threats to Russia's fundamental interests and contributes to the accumulation of the potential for a direct conflict, Russian Ambassador to Canada Oleg Stepanov said on Thursday.

"Washington continued on its course that created more threats to our fundamental security interests and contributed to further accumulation of conflict potential. Such selfish and irresponsibly dangerous behavior carries risks of escalation, including on the nuclear level - up to a direct armed clash between nuclear powers," Stepanov said in a statement.

The Russian ambassador questioned whether the United States and its allies comprising the collective West are achieving safety and security by engaging in hostile behavior against Russia.

"Here, by the way, the question is: Are the United States and the [collective] West strengthening their security and the safety of their citizens while harassing Russia through increased military threats?" he said.

Stepanov noted that "Western revisionism" has predictably been met with resistance from those who believe the world should function on the basis of traditional international legal norms and principles and on multilateral collective management structures established since World War II.

"The new generation of the Western political elites brought up on the belief in their own righteousness and on the United States victory in the Cold War, decided to act against us in the hardest way - to abolish our state and a way of life as a historical anomaly," he said.

Stepanov pointed out that international security is crumbling as a result of the actions of the United States and its allies.

"The military doctrines of the three Western state-possessors of nuclear weapons are changing in the direction of lowering the threshold for their application. There is an obvious imbalance between the West and the ‘non-West’ in ordinary armaments," he said.

In addition, the Russian ambassador notes that there is an unlimited deployment of global anti-missile defense.

With respect to the security of Russia’s diplomatic facilities in Canada in light of last night’s incident when a Molotov cocktail was thrown on them, Stepanov said the Canadian authorities appear to show no desire to protect the facilities as obliged to do so.

Russia has demanded that the Canadian authorities enhance the security of the Russian diplomatic facilities in the country as the police investigate the incident. Stepanov said.

The Canadian authorities have said their patrols in the areas of the Russian diplomatic missions are enough to ensure security, Stepanov added.