Russia is concerned about a shift in the positions of some countries that now favor a military attack on Iran, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Sunday.

“We [Russia] are concerned that the opportunity to try to solve the problem [in Iran] by military means is still real. We get signals, public and from private channels, that this option is now considered in some capitals as much more applicable to the situation than it was before,” Ryabkov said, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

He said that in addition to a “negative effect for the security of many countries” in case of a military strike there will be “dire consequences for the global economy due to unavoidable increase of prices for hydrocarbons, which will slow the exit from recession.”

“Russia is not interested in a sudden rise in oil prices,” he added. “It would be very simple and perhaps even a deliberate distortion of Moscow´s position to believe that we have some wild dreams that price for oil will be $200 per barrel.”

“This is absolutely not true," he insisted, "because we understand that this increase will slow down the world economy, as a result the demand will fall and inevitable decline in energy prices will follow and that will be much more profound than the short-term, insignificant gains, which we will be able to get from a psychological rise as a result of destabilization.” (IsraelNationalNews © 2012 05/20/12)