Moscow strongly disagrees with a statement by NATO Council, which condemns Russia for military escalation in Crimea in contravention with the principles of international law, says a commentary published on Russian Foreign Ministry’s web page on Monday.

“Such a stance doesn’t contribute to stabilizing the situation in Ukraine and only encourages those forces that intend to use the current events to achieve their reckless political goals,” Russia’s diplomatic service said in a statement. “It is obvious that the existing threats to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are caused exclusively by the domestic political crisis in this country. Its settlement requires a fundamentally different behavior of our partners.”