Russia has no issues with either Sweden or Finland related to the security area, related to territories, the official said, adding that "these countries are not waging a civil war against their regions, these countries are not killing Russians on their territory, these countries are not banning the Russian language as the language of outcasts."
"We do not threaten either Finland or Sweden. And we hope we are not threatened by either Finland or Sweden. And we hope that there will be no missiles on the territory of these countries that will be directed towards us," Peskov said.
Russia has never had illusions about NATO and understands that this is an alliance that leads to confrontation and tension on the continent, the official added.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s statement alleging that Russia is not ready for negotiations on Ukraine is “not true,” Peskov said.
“Blinken has said that Ukraine is ready for negotiations, but [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has no such readiness — that’s what Blinken said. And this, from our point of view, is completely not true,” Peskov said.
There are currently no direct channels for dialogue between Russia and Western countries, Dmitry Peskov said.
"We do not have direct channels for dialogue [with the West]. This dialogue is now useless because no one there is now ready to accept any arguments. There is a certain shortage of leaders who are ready to step over the command system established in the NATO system," Peskov stressed, adding that there is a certain shortage of leaders with "political sobriety."