MOSCOW, December 10. /TASS/. The West’s irresponsible behavior towards Ukraine entails serious military risks, including a large-scale conflict in Europe, the Russian Foreign Ministry cautioned in a statement on dialogue with the United States and other Western countries about security guarantees.
"A course has been taken to drag Ukraine into NATO, which is fraught with the emergence there of strike missile systems with minimum flight time to Central Russia as well as other destabilizing weapons. This irresponsible behavior poses unacceptable threats to our security and paves the way for serious military risks for all the parties involved, even going as far as a large-scale conflict in Europe", the ministry said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out that Moscow had taken notice of US President Joe Biden’s readiness, voiced at his talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on December 7, to establish a serious dialogue on the issues related to ensuring Russia’s security.
"This dialogue is acutely needed, now that the relations between Russia and the collective West continue deteriorating and have come to a critical point", the statement says.
Nevertheless, according to the ministry, various unfettered interpretations of Russia’s stance have been multiplying in recent days, which impels Moscow to clarify once again that it is unacceptable to escalate a confrontation with Russia.
"Using the Ukraine situation as a pretext, the West has embarked on a course of encouraging Russophobia and shielding the Kiev regime’s actions that seek to derail the Minsk agreements and prepare a military scenario in Donbass", the Foreign Ministry added.
Instead of putting their Ukrainian proxies in place, NATO countries are prodding Kiev towards taking aggressive steps, the Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized.
"It is impossible to interpret the increasingly frequent unscheduled exercises conducted by the United States and its allies in the Black Sea in any other way. NATO member states’ aircraft, including strategic bombers, regularly make provocative flights and perilous maneuvers near Russia’s borders. Ukraine’s territory continues to be militarily exploited and weapons continue to be funneled into the country", the statement says.
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier called on NATO to start substantive talks in order to give Russia "reliable and long-term security guarantees". In its dialogue with the United States and US allies, Moscow will insist on "elaborating concrete proposals" ruling out any further NATO expansion and the deployment of weapon systems endangering Russia in close proximity to its borders", he stressed.
As Putin specified, Russia "needs legally binding guarantees because Western partners have failed to honor their corresponding verbal commitments".