MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/. Russia will complete the demilitarization of Ukraine even after peace agreements have been concluded, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview to Russian and foreign mass media on Thursday.

"We are ready to negotiate, but we will push ahead with our operation, because we cannot afford to let Ukraine retain infrastructures that threaten Russia," Lavrov said. "Demilitarization in this sense, understood as elimination of infrastructures posing a threat to us, will be completed, even if we sign a peace agreement. This agreement will certainly include such a paragraph," Lavrov said in reply to a question from a British journalist.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24 launched a special military operation in Ukraine following a request for assistance from the leaders of the Donbass republics. He said Moscow had no plans for an occupation of Ukrainian territories. The sole purpose is the country’s demilitarization and denazification. The Russian Defense Ministry says its forces are not attacking cities. Their focus is entirely on military infrastructures. The civilian population is not in danger.