OREANDA-NEWS Western politicians are playing with the escalation in Ukraine, they have a "child mentality". This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in an interview with Sky News Arabia, the video was published on the department's YouTube channel.

According to him, for several months now there has been a discussion in the world that Russia is only threatening and talking about "red lines". At the same time, the West crosses them every time and nothing happens. He also said that initiatives to provide Ukraine with long-range Western missiles and allow it to strike targets in Russia would cause a direct war between NATO and Russia.

"If we are talking about long-range missile weapons, then it is clear to everyone that the Ukrainians themselves will not be able to use them. Targeting, satellite data, flight missions — all this can be done only by specialists of the country that produces these weapons," the Foreign Minister concluded.

However, there are "some reasonable people" in Washington who understand this, Lavrov said. He also added that NATO is now waging a hybrid war against Russia at the hands of Ukrainians.

Earlier, Lavrov warned of a possible military response by Russia to NATO exercises in the Arctic. He also noted that the Arctic is not part of the North Atlantic Alliance.