UNITED NATIONS, January 31. /TASS/. It looks like the United States is calling for a war and is seeking to make its allegations come true, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said on Monday.
"Any talk about an impending war is provocative. It looks like you are calling for that, that you are waiting for it to happen, as though you want your allegations to come true," he said at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council.
The Russian diplomat noted that Western nations are trying to persuade everyone that Russia allegedly plans to stage an aggression against Ukraine but "provide no evidence to back such serious accusations."
According to Nebenzia, the United States’ rhetoric is diverting the topic of the settlement of the situation in Ukraine away from the Minsk agreements. "Our Western colleagues are seeking on the crest of this wave to reduce our dialogue solely to the issue of the so-called settlement of the situation at the border with Ukraine," he said, adding that Russia’s security initiatives are "much wider" and "Ukraine’s non-admission to NATO and non-deployment of foreign troops on its territory is just one element within the agreements, which can cardinally improve the military-political situation in Europe and in the entire world."
He recalled that US former Secretary of State Colin Powell "wielded the infamous test tube with an unknown substance as evidence of Iraq having weapons of mass destruction." "It looks like our American colleagues are ready to sacrifice Ukraine to its geopolitical interests as well," he added.
Recently, Western and Ukrainian media outlets have been echoing claims about a possible Russian aggression against Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier slammed such statements as "empty and groundless" and their goal is to whip up tensions. He stressed that Russia doesn’t pose any threat to anyone, but did not rule out possible provocations to justify the remarks in question and warned that attempts at using force to settle the crisis in southeastern Ukraine would have the most severe consequences.