"It's a risky situation, I agree with you, and that's why Russia was advocating for many years and especially during the recent months for keeping the channels of communications between the militaries open in order to avoid miscalculations or misunderstandings that could trigger dire consequences," Stepanov said on Wednesday.
Stepanov made the comments in light of Ukraine firing a missile in Poland that initially drew speculation that the projectile was fired by Russia, risking dragging NATO into the conflict in Ukraine. He responded to a question whether Russia was prepared for the possibility that a Russian-fired missile could potentially hit a NATO country and trigger a big conflict.
On Tuesday, US corporate media cited a US official saying that a Russian missile fell in a Polish region bordering Ukraine and killed two Polish citizens. Russia immediately rejected the accusations, describing them as a deliberate effort to escalate the situation in Ukraine.
Poland eventually confirmed that Ukrainian forces fired the missile as they attempted to intercept a barrage of Russian missiles targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure.
US President Joe Biden also said it was unlikely that the missile was fired from Russia.