MINSK, April 15. /TASS/. European countries are stepping up escalation around Ukraine, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergey Naryshkin said.
According to the official, Russia and Belarus see increasing military activity of NATO countries along their borders.
"We feel and see that European countries, especially France, the UK and Germany are raising the level of escalation around the Ukrainian conflict," he told reporters. "So we need to act pre-emptively. We're ready for it."
"The State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus and the Foreign Intelligence Service are facing difficult and unique tasks to ensure the security of our countries and counter aggressive aspirations of unfriendly countries against the interests of our states," Naryshkin went on to say. "At this point, quite a lot has already been done."
According to the official, cooperation between the intelligence services of Russia and Belarus "is built on a constructive and trusting basis and is developing and expanding every year in terms of the areas of its activities."
"This interaction is both a continuation and reflection of the trust-based relationship between the leaders of our two countries: President Vladimir Putin and President Alexander Lukashenko," Naryshkin said.
