NATO kicked off Steadfast Defender 24 in January. The war games are running through May and include over 90,000 troops from all 32 member states. During the drills, the allies plan to test out a conflict scenario against a "near-peer adversary" in accordance with Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which states that an attack on one ally is considered an attack against the entire NATO and allows for the provision of appropriate assistance.
"Right now, NATO is conducting its largest drills since the Cold War, Steadfast Defender, near the Russian border. According to their scenario, using all the tools, including the hybrid ones and conventional weapons, they are exercising coalition actions against Russia. We have to admit that the NATO states are seriously preparing for a ‘potential conflict’ with us, about which, by the way, high-ranking NATO representatives are openly talking about," Zakharova said in a statement published by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Speaking about NATO’s accusations against Russia of hybrid attacks on the alliance Zakharova said Moscow considers them as disinformation, which increases the degree of anti-Russian hysteria.
On May 2, the North Atlantic Council adopted a statement, accusing Russia of hybrid attacks against the alliance's member states.
"The North Atlantic alliance and the leadership of some individual member states are doing what they are the best at - spreading disinformation, increasing the degree of anti-Russian hysteria in order to justify unprecedented levels of militarization in Europe," Zakharova said.