MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - A prominent Russian Federation Council member sees British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon's remark on Moscow's hypothetical threat to the Baltic countries as an attempt to have the funding of the UK Ministry of Defense increased.
"This statement should be viewed as nothing but an attempt to have his own agency's funding increased and prompt the Baltics to be more generous in financing NATO's budget," Federation Council international affairs committee head Konstantin Kosachyov told Interfax.
"Otherwise, one would have to presume that the British military agency is led by a secretary assessing threats to his own country absolutely unrealistically," he said.
Fallon was reported to suggest that Russian President Vladimir Putin is as much a threat to Europe as Islamic State, posing "a real and present danger" to Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, and to warn that Moscow could deploy techniques used in Crimea and in eastern Ukraine to destabilize the Baltic countries.
Kosachyov said in commenting on these remarks that the price for "these games or these mistakes" would have to be paid ultimately by British voters misled by their government.