UPDATE - Russia warns Poland about risk of 'playing itself out' with issue of military reparations

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS BY ZAKHAROVA, PLEASE, SEE NEW PART

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) – Warsaw runs the risk of "playing itself out" by making demands on Moscow for reparations, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

Commenting at a news conference in Moscow on remarks by Polish authorities about their intentions first to get reparations from Germany, and then move on with this issue to Russia, Zakharova said: "You know, I can just answer this question in one word -- they will play themselves out."

Turning to Finland and the US plans to sign an agreement, allowing for the establishment of the American military bases in the northern European country, Zakharova said Moscow closely follows NATO's military build-up near its borders.

"The Russian Federation will be forced to take retaliatory measures both of a military-technical and other nature in order to stop the threats to our national security arising in this regard," she stressed.

Earlier, Finnish Foreign Minister PekkaHaavisto said Helsinki and Washington are working on drafting an agreement, which will be the legal basis for the deployment of the US military infrastructure in Finland.

Zakharova announced that Russian representatives will meet with the UN delegation led by Rebeca Grynspan, the secretary general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in Moscow on Friday to discuss the implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

Moscow's position is that nothing has been done to remove barriers to Russian food export, she emphasized.

A meeting of the foreign ministers of the grain deal's participants – Russia, Türkiye, and Ukraine – has yet to be scheduled, she said.

At the same time, all three parties are constantly communicating in the joint coordination center in Istanbul, which is required for vessel inspections transporting Ukrainian grain.

In response to a question, Zakharova said the meeting of the foreign ministers of Iran, Russia, Syria, and Türkiye is being planned, but "it is too early to talk about its date and location."

In response to reports that Pope Francis proposed a peace plan to Russia and Ukraine, the spokeswoman said Moscow has yet to receive any messages from the Vatican.

"As of today, the Russian side has not received any concrete proposals or plans for a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis from the Vatican," she noted.

She did, however, praise the Vatican's peace efforts, saying the Holy See is well aware of Russia's position.

At the same time, she emphasized that the Ukrainian parliament has prohibited peace talks with Russia and that no peace efforts will succeed until this is changed.

Regarding a phone talk between the Chinese and Ukrainian presidents, Zakharova said Beijing "took an unbiased position" on the conflict and "perfectly understands its reasons."

According to her, any party offering its mediation services should realize that Russia opposes the NATO-Ukrainian "military conglomerate," in which Kyiv "performs the functions of a tool and a springboard of armed struggle."

The spokeswoman then claimed that the arms supplied to Ukraine end up on black markets, strengthening criminal and terrorist organizations. "Terrorist and criminal activity can reach unprecedented scale," she added.

According to her, it is difficult to trace weapons on black markets because they are sold on the Internet using cryptocurrencies.

“I would say it is a crime to believe so and to inspire such information and confidence in the population. The point is that when criminals, terrorists, (and) extremists receive these weapons, they do not use them against each other, they use them against civilians, society, (and) the state," she explained.