GENEVA, January 21. /TASS/. Russia has never threatened the Ukrainian people on behalf of its official representatives, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday at a press conference following talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
"Russia has never, at any time or at any place, ever threatened the Ukrainian people, through its official representatives," he affirmed.
The Russian top diplomat added that this topic had been discussed with Blinken and the US Secretary of State agreed that the parties "need to conduct a more reasonable dialogue."
Lavrov hoped that after that the West would become less emotional over the situation around Ukraine.
"We talked frankly about it with Tony Blinken and he agreed that we need to conduct a more reasonable dialogue. I hope that emotions will subside, although there are no guarantees," he added.
During the meeting, the Russian side provided explanations to Washington about Moscow's alleged plans to attack Ukraine. In turn, the American side did not properly comment on the presence of its military in Europe, Lavrov noted.
"We provided all the answers to the questions that were raised, they say: yes, this is your territory, we admit it, but you have gathered a lot of troops [near the border with Ukraine]. At the same time, right there, they state, in one sentence that what the Americans are doing with their troops in Europe is none of our business," the minister said.
Russia does not rule out that the West's reaction to the situation around Ukraine could be used a cover for Kiev's policy of sabotaging the Minsk accords, Lavrov stressed.
"We do not rule out that this tantrum that our Western colleagues are now throwing has the goal if not to provoke some kind of Ukrainian military action in the Donbass, then at least to cover for the Kiev regime's strategy of completely sabotaging the Minsk agreements," he concluded.