Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday threatened to respond with “military-technical measures” to the US and NATO‘s neglect of its security demands.

The warning came in a Telegram post shared in Russian by the official news handle of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, @MID_Russia. It was posted after Russia gave its official response to the US and NATO’s proposed solutions to its security demands.

“We state that the American side did not give a constructive response to the basic elements of the draft treaty with the United States prepared by the Russian side on security guarantees,” read the beginning of the post after translating it into English.

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“The package nature of Russian proposals was ignored, from which ‘convenient’ topics were deliberately chosen, which, in turn, were ‘twisted’ in the direction of creating advantages for the United States and its allies,” the post further stated, adding, “The growing military activity of the United States and NATO directly at Russian borders is alarming.”

“In the absence of the readiness of the American side to agree on firm, legally binding guarantees to ensure our security from the United States and its allies, Russia will be forced to respond, including through the implementation of military-technical measures,” the post concluded in a dire warning.

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The Russian foreign ministry’s Telegram post came on the same day as the impromptu dismissal of the second-most senior diplomat at the US embassy in Moscow, a move that Washington saw as a sign of escalation.

“We can confirm that Russia expelled US Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) to Russia Bart Gorman. DCM Gorman was the second-most senior official at U.S. Embassy Moscow after the Ambassador and a key member of the Embassy’s senior leadership team,” said a US State Department spokesman following Gorman’s dismissal, as reported by CNN.

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“Russia’s action against our DCM was unprovoked and we consider this an escalatory step and are considering our response,” the spokesperson added, as per CNN.

While Russia has officially announced two separate withdrawals of troops from what it described as military drills in Crimea, the US maintains that Moscow is still planning an invasion of its neighbour.

With Western nations accusing Russia of duplicity, US President Joe Biden on Thursday accused Moscow of “engaging in a false flag operation” and added that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could take place in the “next several days.”