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Russia wants no war but will strictly ensure its security with appropriate means — Lavrov

As the Russian foreign minister stressed, it was up to Western partners to make their choice on this issue

MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/. Russia is not interested in conflicts and does not want a war but will strictly ensure its security by those means that it considers appropriate, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the RT television channel on international issues on Wednesday.

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"Our philosophy has been widely known for a long time and boils down to the lines of the well-known song: "Whether Russians Want a War.’ We do not want a war and President [of Russia Vladimir] Putin has stated once again that we do not need any conflicts and we hope that no one else views conflicts as a desirable scenario. We will strictly ensure our security by those means that we deem appropriate. And we are warning hot heads, of which there are many in Ukraine and also in the West," Russia’s top diplomat pointed out.

It is up to Western partners to make their choice on this issue, Lavrov stressed.

"The US leadership agreed quite promptly with us on the organizational framework of further work and I view this as a positive step on the eve of the new year after all, despite very serious upcoming work on the substance of the problem," the Russian foreign minister pointed out.

Some political figures in the West are seeking to foment hostile sentiments in Ukraine in order to create more irritating factors on Russia’s borders so that it does not prevent Western forces from exploiting territories geopolitically, Lavrov added.

On December 17, Russia’s Foreign Ministry published drafts of an agreement with the United States on security guarantees and an agreement between Russia and the NATO member states on security measures. The drafts were handed over to the US side at a meeting in the Russian Foreign Ministry on December 15.

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Foreign policy Sergey Lavrov

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