On February 19, in an interview with TASS news agency, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko made harsh criticisms of the role of Western countries in the current crisis. He affirmed that Europe has no goodwill to end the conflict but only wants the fighting to continue for as long as possible.
Their current position is to want the fighting on Ukrainian territory to last as long as possible" - Mr. Grushko emphasized when asked about Europe's role in the process of resolving the conflict.
The senior Russian diplomat assessed that, up to now, Moscow has not seen any practical constructive contribution from European countries. Conversely, the tough and biased stance of the West has neutralized all reconciliation efforts.
According to the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, if you look at the actual moves on the international stage, you can see that Europe is doing everything against the desire to restore peace in Ukraine.
Mr. Grushko pointed out that these obstructive actions include the continuous provision of huge packages of support in terms of politics, economy, finance and especially military aid to the Kiev government. Moscow has long considered the West's continuous pumping of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine as the main reason for the fire of conflict continuing to flare fiercely on the ground.
In addition, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister also strongly refuted the preconditions that the West set for a peace agreement. He said that the proposals from Europe are one-sided and completely ignore Russia's national interests.
No one in Europe mentions a peace formula that includes commitments to ensure solid and reliable security for Russia. It must be reaffirmed that this is the core and key condition for any solution to end the conflict in Ukraine," Mr. Grushko emphasized.
The accusations from the Russian Foreign Ministry are made in the context that diplomatic negotiation efforts, especially the latest round of discussions in Geneva (Switzerland), are still seriously deadlocked.
While Ukraine and the West resolutely reject their demands for concessions, Moscow also does not back down in its demands for strategic security space, making the overall peace picture still very bleak.
