On the 18th local time, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov held talks with German Foreign Minister Berberk who visited Russia.
After the meeting, Lavrov said Russia would not threaten any country and that it was unacceptable to see Russia as part of the conflict.
Russian Foreign Minister: Russia will not threaten any country
Lavrov said that on the Ukraine issue, there is no alternative to the Minsk agreement, and Russia will not create a conflict situation around Ukraine for any reason.
Lavrov said Russia is still waiting for a Western response to Russia's security assurance proposals and that delaying the security agreement will not work.
As for the threat of new sanctions imposed by Western countries on Russia, Russia will take specific countermeasures according to the specific actions of the West. Lavrov also stressed that politicizing the Nord Stream 2 project would only backfire.
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov: Russia will not threaten any country with anything, but we do hear threats from us , and we have made it clear to our (Western) partners that it is unacceptable to see Russia as part of the conflict, but we have recently seen such an attempt and (the West) will shift the responsibility for the lack of progress in the implementation of the Minsk agreements to Russia.
In April 2014, a large-scale armed conflict broke out in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine in which Ukrainian government forces and civilian armed forces broke out. Through the mediation of the international community, the two sides reached ceasefire agreements in Minsk in September 2014 and February 2015, respectively, but small-scale exchanges of fire have continued to occur since then.
Since last year, the West has continued to play up Russia's heavy military gathering on the Russian-Ukrainian border, claiming that Russia intends to "invade" Ukraine, while Russia has firmly denied and repeatedly stressed that the deterioration of the situation is due to NATO's continuous erosion of Russia's security space.
In December last year, Russia submitted a high-profile submission to the United States and NATO and announced two draft security guarantee agreements, delineating Russia's security "red line". From the 10th to the 13th of this month, Russia held security dialogues with the United States, NATO and the OSCE, but achieved no tangible results.
The Russian foreign minister urged the United States to respond to the issue of security as soon as possible
The Russian Foreign Ministry said on the 18th that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and US Secretary of State Blinken had a telephone conversation. The two sides exchanged views on a series of security dialogues between Russia and the United States, NATO and Europe.
Lavrov reiterated that the United States should give a specific written response and explanation to Russia's draft security treaty and agreement as soon as possible.
Lavrov also urged the U.S. secretary of state not to repeat the speculation that "Russia is about to invade Ukraine" and that the United States should push Ukraine to fully implement the Minsk agreement.
(Original title: Russian Foreign Minister: Russia will not threaten any country)
Source: CCTV news client
Process Edit: TF022