Lavrov denies Russia's plans to attack Ukraine | News from Germany about Russia

Russia is not interested in a military escalation of the conflict with Ukraine, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. “If it depends on the Russian Federation, there will be no war. We don’t want wars, but we won’t allow our interests to be attacked roughly, our interests to be ignored,” Lavrov said in an interview with Russian radio stations on Friday, January 28.

At the same time, he said that negotiations with NATO and the United States on Russian “security requirements” are continuing. Speaking of the replies received by Moscow two days ago, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry said: “There are rational grains on secondary issues.”

Moscow prepares options for responding to NATO and US responses

According to the Russian minister, the Russian Federation is now preparing a number of options for responding to the responses of Washington and NATO, and the corresponding decision, after proposals from various departments, will be made by President Vladimir Putin. He called the letter “ideologized” to NATO, and compared it with the US response – “almost a model of diplomatic decency.”

Meanwhile, the imposition by the United States of new sanctions, including cutting off Western-controlled financial systems, would be “tantamount to breaking off relations,” Lavrov warned.

In addition, he said that he would have a telephone conversation with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on the same day, and a meeting with US representatives on the work of diplomatic missions would take place in the next two weeks. “We propose to nullify everything that was,” Sergei Lavrov said, pointing to the closure of a number of Russian diplomatic missions in the United States during the presidency of Barack Obama.

Conflict between Russia and the West

According to Western intelligence services, Russia has transferred up to 120,000 troops to the annexed Crimea and to the border with Ukraine. Moscow denies preparations for a new invasion and accuses Europeans and Americans of arming Ukraine and conducting maneuvers near the borders of the Russian Federation.

At the end of December, Russia put forward a series of demands for so-called “security guarantees” to the US and NATO regarding the reduction of US troops and weapons in Europe and the refusal to further expand the alliance to the east. Washington and the NATO leadership refused Russian demands. A series of January talks with the Russian Federation ended unsuccessfully. The West is urging Moscow to withdraw its troops from the Ukrainian border and threatening massive sanctions in case of a possible invasion, among which was the possible disconnection of Russia from SWIFT and the refusal to launch the completed Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

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Author: Jan Walter, Kevin Mertens