On Sunday, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov slammed the United States for driving "hysteria" over a possible Russian invasion, after Western countries accused Moscow of amassing troops near the ex-Soviet country.

Peskov said on state television: "This hysteria is being whipped up artificially," adding that "Those who have brought their armed forces from overseas are accusing us of unusual military activity on our own territory, that is, the United States."

Blinken's statements

Peskov's statements follow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's refusal to declare whether US intelligence believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is attempting to seize land from Ukraine on Saturday.

On that issue, Blinken had stated: "We don't know what President Putin's intentions are. But we do know what's happened in the past." 

Putin accused the West of escalating 

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the West is "escalating" the Ukraine war by conducting drills in the Black Sea and flying aircraft close to the country's borders.

Putin had said in a speech to the foreign ministry."[Our] Western partners are escalating the situation by supplying Kyiv with lethal modern weapons and conducting provocative maneuvers in the Black Sea," adding that the maneuvers took place "20 km from our border."

The Russian President announced that Moscow has been "constantly raising concerns about this" but "all our warnings and talk about red lines are treated superficially."