MOSCOW. April 27 (Interfax) - Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has warned about the risk of uncontrollable escalation if the United States keeps trying to pressure Russia in strategic and other matters.
"The United States is essentially walking on thin ice in its attempts to exert maximum pressure on us. It is playing some kind of unilateral game. Does it think it can control an escalation in any scenario?" Zakharova said at a press briefing on Thursday.
The United States "continues to purposefully infringe on our fundamental interests, deliberately generate risks and raise the stakes in the standoff with Russia, trying to test our pain threshold and to expand permissible boundaries," she said.
"It looks like U.S. military strategists have the same illusions about the hypothetical 'nuclear escalation ladder', as it is called by experts, at least about its first step as they imagine it," Zakharova said.
"These are very dangerous illusions, especially as this approach directly contravenes Western declarations of a commitment to lowering strategic risks, including the risk of direct armed confrontation between nuclear powers," she said.
"We will do everything to prevent the worst-case scenario, but of course, that won't happen to the detriment of our vital interests. I would not recommend doubting or testing our determination," Zakharova said.