Russia is not interested in a military escalation of the conflict with Ukraine, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. This is what DW writes, reports UNN.
"If it depends on the Russian Federation, there will be no war. We do not want wars, but we will not allow to step roughly on our interests, ignore our interests either," Lavrov said in an interview with Russian radio stations on Friday, January 28.
At the same time, he said that talks with NATO and the United States on Russia's "security requirements" were continuing. Speaking about the answers Moscow received two days ago, the Russian foreign minister said, "There are rational grains there on secondary issues."
According to the Minister, Moscow is currently preparing a number of reactions to the responses from Washington and NATO. President Vladimir Putin will decide on the response after suggestions from various departments. He called the NATO letter "ideological" and the U.S. response "almost a model of diplomatic decency" compared to it.
Meanwhile, the introduction of new sanctions by the United States, including disconnection from Western-controlled financial systems like SWIFT, would be "equivalent to breaking off relations," Lavrov warned
In addition, he said he would hold a telephone conversation with German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock on the same day and would meet with U.S. representatives in the next two weeks about the work of diplomatic missions. "We suggest zeroing in on what has been," Lavrov said, pointing to the closure of a number of Russian diplomatic missions in the United States during Barack Obama's presidency.
Speaking to reporters, the Russian foreign minister also said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could come to Moscow, Sochi or St. Petersburg if he wanted to discuss the normalization of bilateral relations with Russia.
"Zelensky may come to Moscow, Sochi or St. Petersburg if he wishes to discuss the normalization of bilateral relations with Russia," Lavrov was quoted by TASS as saying.
Lavrov added that Moscow is ready to discuss with Zelensky the normalization of relations, but not Donbas.
"If he wants to discuss Donbas - go to the contact group to resolve issues," he said.
We will note, during a press conference back on May 20, Vladimir Zelensky said that the conversation between the offices of the presidents of Ukraine and Russia about the meeting of the presidents of both countries has begun.
