"At the same time, of course, we drew attention to the aggressive Russophobic tone of the head of the Pentagon. These statements directly encourage revanchist sentiments of the war party in Kiev," Zakharova said.
Russia's foreign ministry noted that each country has the right to develop relations in all areas with other sovereign states.
Earlier, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, commenting on the prospects for Ukraine's membership in the alliance, said that third countries do not have the right to veto Ukraine's accession to NATO, while Washington supports Kiev in its aspirations.
On Thursday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said that Ukraine's possible NATO entry would be an extremely dangerous step, which would force Moscow to react. Also, the Kremlin said last month that any expansion of NATO military installations in Ukraine would cross its "red lines".