Moscow: Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed today that Russia’s special military operation aims to disarm Ukraine, because Moscow will not allow Kiev to obtain nuclear weapons, Prensa Latina publishes.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky admitted on February 19, during his speech at the Munich Security Conference, that his country could reconsider its commitments under the Budapest Memorandum, which provided for its renunciation of nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees.
In an interview with the Al Jazeera television channel, published on Wednesday on his Twitter channel, the senior official said that Russia is ready for the second round of negotiations with Ukraine, but Kiev is delaying the process on orders from the United States.
Earlier, a Russian source told the TASS news agency that the next round of Russian-Ukrainian talks was scheduled for March 2, while the presidential spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, assured that the Moscow delegation will be at the meeting place this afternoon, which he would not disclose.
During his exchange with the Qatari channel, the Russian foreign minister pointed out that a third world war, if it happens, will be nuclear and devastating, referring to recent words by the president of the United States, Joe Biden, on the subject.
He recalled that in statements to the press in his country, the US president said that an alternative to the harsh measures imposed by Washington on this country would be a third world war.
In another part of the dialogue, the head of Moscow diplomacy stressed that the issue of Crimea’s membership is not under discussion and pointed out that this territory is part of Russia.
Regarding the restrictions imposed by the West, he explained that the Eurasian nation was prepared for them, but he was surprised that these measures affected athletes, intellectuals, actors and media workers.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine on February 24, the West tightened its economic and personal sanctions against the Eurasian nation.
The United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and the European Union countries targeted key sectors of Russia’s trade, finance, energy, exports and aviation.
The unilateral measures extended to the head of state himself and to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, established the disconnection of some banks from the Swift system, the closure of European airspace and that of other countries for their airlines and the paralysis of the international reserves of the Central Bank of Russia.
Tags: Russia, Ukraine