UPDATE - FM Lavrov says Russia does not want war with Ukraine

UPDATE - MORE REMARKS BY LAVROV ADDED

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Amid heightened tensions, the Russian foreign minister said on Friday that Moscow does not want a war with Ukraine but will not allow its interests to be hurt.

“If it depends on the Russian Federation, there will be no war. We do not want wars, but we will not allow our interests to be rudely attacked, we will not allow our interests to be ignored,” Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with four Russian radio stations.

He said discussions with the US continue, and within two weeks there will be a new Russian-American meeting.

Speaking about the US response to Russian proposal on security guarantees, which include that NATO would not expand eastward, Lavrov said Washington mostly cited Russia’s earlier proposals, including moratorium on the deployment of intermediate- and shorter-range missiles in Europe, withdrawing military drills from each other's borders, and establishing a military hotline.

The top diplomat said the US response is “an example of diplomacy,” compared to “arrogant and ideologically biased” NATO document, for which he was “even ashamed.”

Asked about sanctions, Lavrov said their introduction will mean the breakup of diplomatic relations.

“As for the threats of sanctions, the Americans were told, including in the contacts of the presidents, that the package, accompanied by a complete shutdown of financial and economic systems controlled by the West, it would be equivalent to a breakup of relations,” he said.

The minister also announced that he will submit the request to member states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) in Europe, demanding how they are going to honor their commitments under the OSCE documents, prescribing not to ensure the security at expense of other states.

”I hope that they will answer honestly what they mean when they fulfill these agreements lopsidedly, completely omitting that the right to alliances is directly conditioned by the inadmissibility of strengthening the security of some states at the expense of others,” he said.

​​​​​​​- Lavrov says only US can force Ukraine to implement Minsk Agreement

Commenting on the issue of recognition of Ukraine's breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, Lavrov said the Minsk Agreement provides for Ukraine's territorial integrity.

As for Russia's role, the minister stressed that the country is not a party to the conflict and only Kyiv, Donetsk, Luhansk can implement the Minsk Protocol.

"When our colleagues say that we have to implement the Minsk agreements, we ask them to show in the document the part that we have to implement. They cannot answer," he noted.

The minister said that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised to help with the implementation of the Minsk Agreement, adding that "nobody else but the US can force Kyiv to do it."

However, this promise contradicts Washington's actions - more arms shipments from the US to Ukraine are underway.

The diplomat claimed that the Ukrainian authorities do not control the "huge number of military personnel" on the contact line in the Donbas, mostly people "volunteer forces."

He also noted that the evacuation of the US diplomatic personnel from Ukraine can mean "they know something that others don't."

"We are now thinking, maybe we should also take precautions against our diplomats in anticipation of some provocations on their part," he said.

Lavrov said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is welcome to Moscow if he wants to discuss the normalization of relations with Russia.

Lavrov also regretted that the Western media reports about the conflict on Donbas are bigoted, stressing that such a way of covering does not contribute to the settlement.

- CIA agents visited Navalny at hospital

Asked on what grounds Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused opposition politician Alexey Navalny, Lavrov said the CIA agents visited him at the hospital in Omsk where he was treated after alleged poisoning.

Lavrov wondered how Germany, France, and Sweden, not having technologies for synthesizing nerve agents, could discover it in Navalny's tests in three days, which is, according to him, impossible.

"It is impossible, without technology, to detect this substance in the human body in three days - any more or less competent chemist knows this," he claimed.

The minister said he is inclined to believe that the West has no grounds to accuse Russia of Navalny's poisoning, and all was started "with the aim of provocation."​​​​​​​