MOSCOW, February 28. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov informed United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan about Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, the Russian foreign ministry said on Monday after their telephone conversation.
"Sergey Lavrov informed his UAE counterpart in detail about the development of the situation in Ukraine in light of the special military operation and about our principled approaches to the possibility of talks with Ukrainian authorities. It was stressed that the security of civilian population is a top priority during the implementation of the tasks of Ukraine’s demilitarization and denazification," it said.
The two top diplomats also discussed current issues of the further development of comprehensive Russian-UAE ties. "Special attention was focused on the practical implementation of the agreements reached during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Abu Dhabi on October 15, 2019, and the Declaration of Strategic Partnership between Russia and the UAE, which was signed in Moscow on June 1, 2018," the ministry said.
The telephone call was initiated by the UAE side.
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.