MOSCOW, February 15. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Tuesday said the West needs to think about what it did to help the implementation of the Minsk accords before accusing Moscow of stalling them.
Zakharova’s comments came after statements by Ukrainian politicians and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that followed the State Duma’s appeal for Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognize the Lugansk and Donetsk people's republics.
"Everyone started to say that if Moscow [makes that decision], then this will definitely mean a violation of the Minsk agreements and withdrawal from the Minsk agreements," she said on RBC television. "What about all these numerous laws, bills, statements and declarations that Ukraine made - many of which were adopted and became law, and many of which were pronounced by the head of state and the minister of foreign affairs - that the Minsk agreements require reconfiguration, transformations, that they do not correspond to the situation on the ground, that their execution is impossible either in the new conditions or in the sequence in which they were written down? Maybe we will deal with this first?"
"Maybe, instead of once again asking some rhetorical questions of Moscow, they will consider it possible for themselves to answer this question for each other: What have they done over all these years to implement the Minsk agreements, and how have they violated them?" she said.
Zakharova said Russia has been hearing warnings about consequences in the event of its certain actions for decades.
"They only talk to us about consequences," she went on to say. "First, they come up with something that doesn’t exist, as [Foreign Minister] Liz Truss did once again. They came up with something that doesn’t exist about Salisbury, Amesbury, about "novichok," and then they immediately talk about the consequences."
"This vicious practice must be stopped," the diplomat said. "Let them first take responsibility for their actions, for what they do and clearly state their position, and then they may demand others be held accountable."
Earlier on Tuesday, the State Duma voted to pass a resolution to send an appeal, which was proposed by the Communist faction, for Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognize the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics.