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Lavrov points to negative impact of UK-Ukraine military-technical cooperation

The Russian foreign minister also pointed out that London’s provocative rhetoric towards Russia was unacceptable

MOSCOW, December 2. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting with UK Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss in Stockholm that military-technical cooperation between London and Kiev had a negative impact on regional security, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

"The British side’s attention was drawn to the negative impact of mounting UK-Ukraine military and military-technical cooperation on regional security and to Kiev’s approaches to fulfilling the Minsk accords," the statement reads.

At a meeting with his British counterpart, Lavrov also called on the West to give up "the language of sanctions and threats" in relation to Belarus, the ministry said.

"While discussing the situation on the Belarusian-Polish border, Sergey Lavrov stressed the imperative of the West’s refusal to use the language of sanctions and threats in relations with Minsk," the statement says.

Russia’s top diplomat also pointed out that London’s provocative rhetoric towards Russia was unacceptable. He stressed that the crisis in their bilateral relations had been initiated by Britain.

"Lavrov urged the British side to build a responsible bilateral dialogue based on equality and the mutual respect of interests and for concrete deeds for shaping a positive agenda in Russian-British interaction and resolving a backlog of problems," the statement reads.

The two sides also discussed the situation around the Iran nuclear deal and the developments in Libya and Afghanistan. The British side also expressed its interest in a dialogue with Russia on cybersecurity, the ministry said.