The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is asked not to produce "horror stories" about Russia's plans to send tanks to the Baltic states, Bulgaria and Hungary

Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Anatoly Antonov said that Russia does not plan military invasion of the Baltic states, Bulgaria and Hungary. In his opinion, such "tricks" and "horror stories" are used by the leadership of these countries in order to get from the government to increase defense costs and get financial support from Europe.

In an interview with DW, Antonov called for "putting an end to the spread of horror stories that the Russian Federation is going to send its tanks to the Baltic countries, to Sofia or Budapest." “No one intends to do this. There are no such plans. Russia does not want war. It’s just ridiculous that Russia is going to fight,” RIA Novosti quoted the statement of the deputy minister of the Russian Federation.

At the same time, Antonov explained for what purpose such "horror stories", in his opinion, are spreading. “In the Baltic countries, the Russians go, be saved while you can” is a very old trick. He works and proved his effectiveness in receiving more defense costs from the government, as well as in obtaining financial support from European countries, such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain, ”the deputy head of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation said. Antonov emphasized that he would not put all European countries in one row.

Russia has repeatedly threatened to strengthen the grouping of its troops on the western border in response to the increase in NATO forces in the countries of Eastern Europe and the Baltic. In turn, the leadership of the North Atlantic Alliance warned about the plans of the Russian Federation to unleash a hybrid war in the Baltic countries. To prevent Russian aggression in NATO, they think about the placement of units of 500-1000 people in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria.