Russia and NATO are moving closer to a direct military clash with each passing day, said Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s permanent representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

"A direct military clash between Russia and NATO has not yet occurred, although we are moving closer to that point every day," he told a regular meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council. TASS has obtained the text of his remarks, The Caspian Post reports, citing TASS.

Polyansky said the alliance "continues to rely on hybrid warfare, in which a bleeding Ukraine fights on everyone’s behalf."

He also described the Ukrainian authorities’ actions against the Russian language, Russian speakers, canonical Orthodoxy and Orthodox Christians as manifestations of that warfare.