MOSCOW, February 17. /TASS/. Russia hopes that the Western media campaign over alleged plans for a Russian invasion of Ukraine will not become a pretext for shirking a dialogue on security guarantees, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference following talks with Italian Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio in Moscow on Thursday.
"I do hope that all these exclamations, all these far-fetched horror stories will not be used as a pretext by the West for shirking a serious discussion on the basis of our proposals," he said.
The Russian foreign minister stressed that the Western lies were absolutely unacceptable.
"A few words about whether some of our Western partners today feel ashamed or not for spreading slander - in fact, disinformation - and of indulging in information terrorism. In fact, I cannot think of a different word for this. I do not believe that they will ever repent, but it is necessary to expose them," Lavrov said. "It happens every day, but they get away with it each time. First, it’s February 15 [a rumored likely date of Russia’s allegedly coming invasion of Ukraine], then it’s February 16, and now, don’t you see, it’s February 20th."
Lavrov stressed that the Western hysteria was continuing although Russia’s military exercises were over.
"This is very sad," he stated.
The United States and NATO on January 26 handed to Russia written answers to Moscow’s security guarantee proposals. The US side asked Russia to avoid disclosing the texts of these documents, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg reviewed their highlights. As follows from what they said the West had refused to make any concessions of fundamental importance to Russia, but mapped out guidelines for further talks instead.
On Thursday, Lavrov said that Russia would send its reply to the Western messages later today.
Lately, the Western countries have been speculating a great deal about the risk of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed such rumors as groundless fanning of tensions. Also, the Western media now and then mentioned what they described as "invasion dates" only to "revise" them each time. This media campaign has already caused a sharp deterioration of the economic situation in Ukraine, the exodus of capital and businessmen and a surge in energy prices in Europe. For instance, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said at the end of January that $12.5 billion had been taken out of the country since the first speculations about the possibility of a "Russian invasion" emerged in the media space.