Threats of US sanctions won’t make Russia to back away; tensions in bilateral relations are generated by Washington, not Moscow, the Russian embassy in the United States said on its Facebook page, Tass reports. 

"That is Washington, not Moscow that generates tensions. We are not going to back away and stand at attention, listening to the threats of US sanctions," the embassy said.

The statement came in response to US Department of State’s Twitter post, which labeled as "fact" claims that "It was Russia that invaded Ukraine in 2014," "occupies Crimea" and "has now amassed more than 100,000 troops on the border with Ukraine."

In turn, Russian diplomats said that it was the United States that "encouraged the radical nationalist coup in Kiev, as a result of which the population of Crimea was threatened with extermination and voted for reunion with Russia."

The West and Kiev have recently been echoing allegations about Russia’s potential invasion of Ukraine. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov castigated these claims as "empty and unfounded", serving as a ploy to escalate tensions, pointing out that Russia did not pose any threat whatsoever to anyone. However, Peskov did not rule out the possibility of provocations aimed at justifying such claims and warned that attempts to use military force to resolve the crisis in southeastern Ukraine would have serious consequences.