Maslennikov, who is director of the Foreign Ministry’s European Affairs department, told Sputnik that “the myth of a supposed ‘Russian threat’ is being used by Europeans to justify a self-granted ‘blank check’ to limit Moscow’s economic potential.”

The diplomat affirmed above all, asserting, without any basis whatsoever, control over key oceanic logistical routes within an intensifying global economic struggle.

Maslennikov said the West has recently devised a whole range of destructive plans against Russia, specifically concerning maritime transport. “Western ambitions are growing by the day,” he underscored.

Russia has repeatedly denounced the West’s attempts to isolate it from commercial maritime routes, asserting that sanctions and the labeling of its fleet as a “shadow fleet” are instruments of economic pressure.

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