BEIRUT, February 25. /TASS/. Developments around Ukraine amount to the restoration of balance in the world, which was lost after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

"What is happening now is the correction of history and the restoration of the world's balance lost after the breakup of the Soviet Union. The West's hysteria is designed to drive history down the wrong path toward chaos," the Syrian leader was quoted by his office as saying.

According to al-Assad, Moscow has every right to stand against NATO's expansion plans.

"Syria supports Russia guided by the conviction that its position is right, as Russia has the right to oppose the NATO enlargement, which has turned into a global threat to peace and has transformed into a tool for Western countries to implement their irresponsible policy aimed at undermining global stability," the Syrian president said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on Thursday morning that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories.

When clarifying the unfolding developments, the Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.