The Foreign Ministry said that the United States depreciates the proposals of Russia, declaring an escalation in Ukraine
The building of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Photo: Maria Devakhina / RIA Novosti
Russia does not plan to invade Ukraine and does not escalate on Ukrainian borders. This is stated in the response of the Russian Foreign Ministry to the US proposals on security guarantees in Europe. The text of the document leads “Kommersant”.
The Foreign Ministry regarded the accusations against Russia about the escalation as an attempt to put pressure on Moscow and devalue Russian proposals for security guarantees. “The mention in this context of Russian obligations under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum has nothing to do with the intra-Ukrainian conflict,” the document says.
“The accusations of Russia contained in the American response that it “occupied Crimea” also do not stand up to scrutiny. In 2014, a coup d'etat took place in Kiev, the initiators of which, with the support of the United States and its allies, headed for the creation of a nationalist state, ”the Foreign Ministry noted, also announcing the infringement of Russian people in Ukraine.
The ministry said that the issue of Crimea's ownership is closed, since it was resolved by the population of the peninsula “through free expression of will in the exercise of the right to self-determination enshrined in the UN Charter.” “If Ukraine is accepted into NATO, there will be a real threat that the regime in Kiev will try to “return” Crimea by force, drawing in the United States and its allies,” the Russian Foreign Ministry added.
“The thesis repeated in the US response that Russia allegedly “ignited the conflict in Donbas” is untenable. Its reasons are purely domestic in nature, ”the Russian response says. According to the Foreign Ministry, in order to resolve the crisis in the southeast, Ukraine must fully comply with the set of measures provided for by the Minsk agreements.
The Foreign Ministry believes that the path to de-escalation is “the cessation of arms supplies to Ukraine, the withdrawal of all Western advisers and instructors from there, the refusal of NATO countries from any joint exercises with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the withdrawal of all foreign weapons previously delivered to Kiev outside Ukrainian territory.”
The Russian diplomatic department recalled the statement of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said that Moscow is open to dialogue and calls “to think about stable security conditions, equal for all participants in international life.”
On February 17, it became known that the United States had received Russian responses to its proposals for security guarantees in Europe. The State Department reported that they were handed over by the American ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, who had previously been summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
