MOSCOW. April 15 (Interfax) - Russia urges its partners not to view the maneuvers its Armed Forces have been conducting near the border with Ukraine as a manifestation of aggression and insists that they do not threaten anyone, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.
"For a second week now, our diplomats in Moscow and Vienna have urged our partners not to misrepresent reality and not to try to interpret Russia's planned combat training events being conducted in Russian territory as a manifestation of aggressive intentions. The scope of these events does not exceed that of previous years and is much more moderate than the exercises conducted by the armed forces of Ukraine and NATO countries both near its borders and in its territory," Zakharova said at a press briefing on Thursday.
"We're urging our partners, above all Germany and France as Normandy-format counterparts, to stop taking part in a propaganda campaign over events in Russian territory not threatening to anyone and focus on prompting Kyiv to take steps toward de-escalation," she said.
The U.S. and its NATO allies "are stepping up the intensity of their own military activities, both in Ukrainian territory and near it," Zakharova said.
In particular, U.S. strategic bombers have been flying over the Black Sea and Ukraine significantly more frequently, "to practice approaching cruise missile use limits," and aerial reconnaissance missions near the Crimean Peninsula have become more intensive, she said.