War ‘hysteria has reached its peak’

The Kremlin yesterday denounced US "peak hysteria" surrounding the Ukraine conflict but said Russian President Vladimir Putin and US leader Joe Biden had agreed to continue dialogue.

Speaking after new phone talks between Putin and Biden, the Kremlin's top foreign policy advisor Yury Ushakov told a conference call: "Hysteria has reached its peak."

Ushakov said that the US side had requested to arrange phone talks between Biden and Putin on Saturday even though such a call had initially been planned for Monday.

The two leaders spoke after Washington warned that an all-out Russian invasion of Ukraine could begin "any day".

Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Saturday condemned such claims as a "provocation".

Ushakov also complained about the US claims, saying that Americans even released "the date of the Russian invasion".

"We don't understand why false information about our intentions is being passed to the media," he told reporters.

Russia is demanding binding security guarantees from the West that includes a pledge to roll Nato forces out of eastern Europe and to never expand into Ukraine. Washington has flatly rejected the demands while offering to discuss a new European disarmament agreement with Moscow.

Meanwhile, Russia's ambassador to Sweden Viktor Tatarintsev told a Swedish newspaper that western sanctions wont husr=t Russia.

"We have already had so many sanctions and in that sense they've had a positive effect on our economy and agriculture," said the veteran diplomat.

In another development, a Russian anti-submarine destroyer chased off a US submarine near the Kuril Islands, forcing it to leave the country's territorial waters, Moscow said Saturday. The US military however denied the account.