Moscow expects that there will be no further escalation of the situation in the Donbass.
This position on Monday, April 12, during a conversation with reporters, was voiced by the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov.
“We hope that political wisdom will prevail in Kiev, and the matter will not take a serious turn.
And provocative actions will come to naught, ”he said.
Commenting on the statement of the press secretary of the President of Ukraine, Yulia Mendel, according to which Kiev requested the organization of a conversation between Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky, but “has not received an answer yet,” Peskov said: “In recent days, I have not seen any requests.
I am not aware that there have been any inquiries in recent days. "
At the same time, Mendel said in a conversation with Reuters, in Kiev "they very much hope that this is not a refusal to dialogue."
In turn, Peskov, answering the journalist's clarifying question whether Putin has anything to say to Zelensky, replied: "As for defusing tensions and preventing a potential war, Vladimir Putin always has something to say."
The spokesman for the Russian leader also stressed that Moscow considers it important to take care of the interests of Russian-speaking people around the world, including the interests of the residents of Donbass.
“As for the Russian-speaking people, citizens who live in two self-proclaimed republics, especially because they are the ones who are rejected by their own state,” Peskov said.
“We have always said that the civil war in Ukraine is a great tragedy for our neighboring Ukraine, for all of us and for Europe as a whole,” he added.
Speaking about the possible aggravation of the conflict in Donbass, Yulia Mendel said on the air of the Dom TV channel yesterday that Ukraine “simply cannot attack its territory and cannot fight its people.”
Commenting on this thesis, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference: “When representatives of Zelensky’s administration now declare that Kiev is not planning anything in Donbass, because Kiev cannot fight its own people, it’s not true.
After that same "revolution of dignity", which was in fact an unconstitutional coup, Kiev attacked its own people and has since waged a war against its own people, declaring them terrorists, although the inhabitants of Donbass did not attack anyone else in Ukraine.
They simply asked to leave them alone and let them figure out what was happening when neo-Nazis seized power in Kiev, who immediately spoke out against the rights of the Russian-speaking population of their own country. "
“I really hope that this story is remembered, including in those countries that are discussing with Ukraine the possibility of supplying it with this or that military equipment,” Lavrov stressed.
"It may end badly, because in the pursuit of restoring its rating, the current Kiev regime may well break into reckless actions."
The next round of negotiations within the framework of the trilateral contact group on the settlement of the conflict in Donbass is scheduled for April 14.
According to representatives of the DPR delegation at the TCG, within the framework of the meeting, issues of unblocking the negotiation process within the political bloc should be considered, and Kiev's position on the draft roadmap presented by the self-proclaimed republics of Donbass should be announced.
“Before the upcoming round of negotiations, there is still a threat of breakdown by the Ukrainian side in connection with Ukraine's intention to exclude representatives of the Donbass public from the negotiations,” the DPR delegation members noted.
April 8, 2021 Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the contact line in Donbass
Reuters
© Ukrainian Presidential Press Service
Recently, the Russian side has repeatedly noted that the situation in Donbass remains difficult and tends to aggravate.
According to the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, the reason lies in the "militant mood of Kiev, which still lives with illusions about the possibility of a military solution to the conflict in the southeast of the country."
She stated that Kiev is pulling troops and equipment into the region, is updating the mobilization plans for calling up reservists, and information is being pumped up in the media.
“We also drew attention to the statement by the President of Ukraine Zelensky, who visited Donbass, that the country's accession to NATO would allegedly lead to the end of the conflict in the region.
A hypothetical membership in the alliance, contrary to Kiev's expectations, not only will not bring peace to Ukraine, but, on the contrary, will lead to a large-scale escalation of the situation in the southeast and may lead to irreversible consequences for Ukrainian statehood, ”Zakharova stressed, urging Kiev to return to fulfillment of their obligations under the Minsk agreements.
In turn, Dmitry Peskov on the air of the program “Moscow.
Kremlin.
Putin ”on the TV channel“ Russia 1 ”noted that the provocative actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Donbass against the background of non-fulfillment of the Minsk agreements could bring the conflict into an active phase.
"Since there is tension in general (there is no de-escalation, and the tension is very high), such provocations can instantly ignite the fire of this very civil war and the internal Ukrainian conflict," Peskov noted.