MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia on Thursday said that there was no Cold War with the West because it was now a "fiery" conflict, and that the European Union and the NATO military alliance were lying about alleged Moscow's sabotage operations to justify vast military spending.
The war in Ukraine, Europe's deadliest since World War Two, has sparked the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
"I would disagree with the comparison with the Cold War," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters when asked if there was now a new Cold War with an "Iron Curtain"-like drone wall being built in Europe.
"We are already in another form of conflict. There has been no cold here for a long time; there is already fire here."
Less than two months since U.S. President Donald Trump met President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Alaska, peace looks even further away with Russian forces advancing in Ukraine, Russian drones allegedly flying in NATO airspace and now Washington talking about direct participation in striking deep into the world's biggest nuclear power.
Zakharova, when asked about European accusations that Russia has intruded into NATO airspace, carried out sabotage operations and hacked key installations, said that the unfounded accusations showed that the EU and NATO were preparing "provocations" against Moscow.
"All their statements indicate - first, that they are preparing a chain of provocations. Second, that they need to justify their military budgets," Zakharova said.
Former U.S. President Joe Biden, Western European leaders and Ukraine cast the Ukraine war as an imperial-style land grab and have repeatedly vowed to defeat Russian forces.
President Vladimir Putin portrays the war as a watershed moment in Moscow's relations with the West, which he says humiliated Russia after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union by enlarging NATO and encroaching on what he considers Moscow's sphere of influence, including Ukraine and Georgia.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
