MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday dismissed a German general's comments about the possibility of conflict between Moscow and Germany as baseless fear-mongering.
Lieutenant General Alexander Sollfrank told Reuters in an interview earlier this month that a Russian decision to attack a NATO member state would depend on the Western allies' posture, but that Moscow had the "current capabilities and combat power" to "kick off a small-scale attack against NATO territory as early as tomorrow."
Asked on Friday about broader comments Sollfrank was purported to have made about German preparations for a possible conflict with Russia, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow had no plans to attack any NATO country, but was acting to ensure its own security at a time when NATO was building up its forces near its borders.
"What hasn't he said and declared," Zakharova said of Sollfrank.
"It (talk of conflict between Russia and NATO) feels like part of a campaign to brainwash the population in order to justify their own mistakes, miscalculations, and crimes," she added.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
