MOSCOW, 05 January 2022, (TON): Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Alexander Grushko told media that he will represent the Russian diplomatic service at the upcoming meeting of the Russia-NATO Council on January 12 in Brussels.

He said, answering a relevant question “the delegation consists of representatives of the Foreign Ministry and the military. I will head the Foreign Ministry unit.”

According to Grushko, NATO, having announced its intention to hold an emergency videoconference of foreign ministers on the eve of the meeting of the Russia-NATO Council, is trying to raise tensions around the internal Ukrainian conflict.

He said “we expect such steps from the alliance. Usually the NRC (the Russia-NATO Council – TASS note) was always preceded by either a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO commission or a meeting of the North Atlantic Council. These are some signals that NATO sends us that they are concerned about alleged concentration of Russian forces.”

“This all fits into their line aimed at increasing tensions around the internal Ukrainian crisis, the line of positioning Russia as a party to the conflict. There is nothing surprising here.”

Earlier, the alliance re-ported that NATO foreign ministers would hold an emergency videoconference on January 7 to discuss Russia’s demands on European security.