"Evidently, both Mr. Macron and Mr. Scholz would like to continue to pretend, at least on the surface, that they can be mediators, but actually, of course, they have essentially lost this chance. For they have lost their autonomy in this entire story," he said in an interview with the Izvestia daily on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).

These leaders, according to Peskov, "prefer to align themselves with the decisions that are made in Washington," even if this harms them and their countries. At the same time, he noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin "has never ruled out the possibility of continuing dialogue with the European leaders."

"Moscow’s position is clear, transparent, sound and consistent. There is nothing new about it and will not be. We must ensure our security and the security of our future generations. We cannot allow a nationalist regime to grow stronger near our border. We cannot afford to see NATO missiles and NATO military infrastructure being deployed several kilometers from our borders," the Kremlin spokesman stressed, adding that Russia cannot accept this so it has to take appropriate measures, TASS reported.

When asked about the role of mediators, he said, "No one will ever refuse mediation. If a mediator can do something useful, we can only welcome this."

MP/PR