New Delhi, May 12 -- Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova delivered a blunt and cutting response Monday after EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas suggested she could participate in future negotiations between Brussels and Moscow.

"Mistake," Zakharova told RIA Novosti when asked about the possibility of Kallas serving as a negotiator in eventual dialogue with Russia.

The one-word dismissal immediately reverberated across diplomatic circles in Europe and Russia, underscoring the widening hostility between Moscow and the European Union at a time when discussions about EU-Russia peace negotiations are slowly re-emerging inside European political institutions.

Kallas, one of Europe's most outspoken anti-Russia figures since ...