PRESS RELEASES AND NEWS
Pages: ««« :: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 :: »»»
Citizens of Russia, friends, I consider it necessary today to speak again about the tragic events in Donbass and the key aspects of ensuring the security of Russia.
We believe that any deliberations about the alleged infringement on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and about the importance of implementing the Minsk Package of Measures, which has been approved by UN Security Council Resolution 2202, have nothing to do with reality. This begs the question where all these people have been for the past eight years, when the Kiev regime, which came to power through a state coup, waged a punitive military operation against its own citizens, an operation that has claimed 14,000 civilian lives. Acting in gross violation of the Minsk Package of Measures, they imposed a tight transport and economic blockade against Donbass, stopped the payment of pensions and social benefits to its residents, whom Vladimir Zelensky has described as “species” and suggested that they get out of Ukraine. These actions have all the markings of genocide.
The package of sanctions announced by the US administration (the 101st if we count them all) targets the financial sector and expands the list of individuals facing personal restrictions, in keeping with Washington’s unrelenting attempts to force Russia to change course. Efforts being undertaken for many years now to hinder the development of the Russian economy have clearly failed, but despite that the United States still has this reflex of turning to restrictive instruments, which are ineffective and counterproductive as far as the United States’ own interests are concerned.
Over the course of the past several months, we have witnessed an escalation of anti-Russian hysteria in the British media, a targeted shaping of the image of an aggressive Russia in the eyes of the British public and international community. At the same time, neither the British government, nor mass media payed any attention to the fact that for many years the residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics have been living under fire, with thousands dead and tens of thousands wounded. London couldn’t care less when Donbass was living under full transport and economic blockade, suspension of social benefits and pension payments.
Question: Could you please comment on the international reaction to President Vladimir Putin’s decision to recognise Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, including the reaction of UN officials, who have cited UN documents on respect for the sovereignty of states?
Sergey Lavrov: Everyone knows about that reaction. It is being broadcast by the media, the internet and social networks. We anticipated this reaction from our Western colleagues. They have formed a habit over the past decades of blaming everything on the Russian Federation, of throwing the book at us. We have taken note of this, of course. You mentioned the reaction of the UN Secretary-General, whose representative has said that Antonio Guterres considers our decision to recognise the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics to be a violation of the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity. Our colleagues at the UN Secretariat should act in accordance with UN decisions that are fundamental for the implementation of the principles and goals of the UN Charter. They have been adopted unanimously by consensus, that is, by all the UN member states without exception.
On February 21, 2022, the President of the Russian Federation signed executive orders recognising the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics as sovereign and independent states
This was the only possible solution, albeit quite a challenging one. The leaders and people from these two republics appealed to the Russian President to recognise them. The members of the Russian Federation Federal Assembly’s State Duma raised the same question in their appeal to the President of the Russian Federation.
As I reported to the President a week ago, we prepared our assessment of the proposals on the security guarantees that Russia submitted for consideration by the United States and NATO last December.
We received their response in late January. The assessment of this response shows that our Western colleagues are not prepared to take up our major proposals, primarily those on NATO’s eastward non-expansion. This demand was rejected with reference to the bloc’s so-called open-door policy and the freedom of each state to choose its own way of ensuring security. Neither the United States, nor the North Atlantic Alliance proposed an alternative to this key provision.
Question: Western media and politicians continue to whip up tensions over the alleged Russian “invasion” of Ukraine, although it seems fewer and fewer people trust their statements as time goes by. This has become a bad joke even in the UK and the United States. Why do they go on with this? What do they want to achieve?
Sergey Lavrov: I am sure that even people who are halfway interested in international politics have become convinced that this is only propaganda, fake news and lies. The main thing is for those who invent these fakes to believe in them. They like it. If they do, they can continue. Why not, indeed?
On February 17, 2022, US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan, summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, was handed the following reaction to the earlier received US response to the Russian draft treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States of America on security guarantees.
Following Russian-German talks, Vladimir Putin and Federal Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz made statements for the press and answered journalists’ questions.
Pages: ««« :: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 :: »»»
| 
