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“Today, we continue to prefer diplomatic means. As (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin has repeatedly pointed out, a long-term settlement of the Ukrainian conflict is only possible through talks. That is why it is necessary to focus on eliminating the root causes (of the conflict), and I mean the military threats created by pulling Ukraine into NATO and suppressing the linguistic, cultural, and religious rights of Ukraine’s Russian and Russian-speaking population,” the top diplomat said during a meeting with students and staff of the Turkmen Foreign Ministry’s International Relations Institute, TASS reported.
At the same time, Lavrov noted that NATO countries have always wanted to “turn Ukraine into an anti-Russian outpost of Washington and Brussels,” planning to establish military bases in Crimea and the Sea of Azov.
“Only after exhausting all peaceful political means to settle the Ukrainian crisis were we forced to take military and technical measures to ensure our country’s security and protect our civilians and their compatriots, whose rights were systematically eradicated by the (Ukrainain government) that came to power in Kiev in 2014 as a result of an unconstitutional coup d’etat supported by the West,” the Russian foreign minister noted.
