Russia's ambassador to Stockholm Sergey Belyaev said Sweden is scaring itself and its people with fabricated news about the threat of Russia.
Swedish military intelligence chief Thomas Nilsson earlier stated that Stockholm does not view the crisis with Russia as a temporary situation, saying the two countries are in a "deep, structural and long-term strategic confrontation."
Ambassador Belyaev said in a statement: "Russia has never threatened Sweden and does not currently threaten it. Despite this, Swedish soldiers and politicians are scaring both themselves and the Swedish people with fabricated news about how dangerous our country could be for them."
Belyaev said, "Naturally, we have to take this attitude of Sweden towards us into account and draw the necessary conclusions."
Russian President Vladimir Putin previously described claims that Russia could attack NATO as "nonsense" and "provocation," stating that the West is using lies about a Russian military threat to justify its own radical militarization.