NEW YORK, April 9. /TASS/. The unwillingness of the Kiev regime to stop the genocide of Russians and implement its obligations under international treaties have led to the special military operation, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said in an interview for Newsweek Friday.

"The special military operation in Ukraine is a result of the Kiev regime’s unwillingness to stop the genocide of Russians through implementation of its obligations under international agreements," he said.

According to the Russian envoy, it was the "nationalist frenzy and revanchist sentiments of the Kiev regime" that made Ukraine choose "the path of rapid militarization" with help from abroad. "The NATO member countries have commenced a military exploration of Ukraine," Antonov noted. "It was flooded with Western weaponry while President Vladimir Zelensky announced Kiev's plans to acquire nuclear weapons, which would threaten not only neighboring countries, but also the entire world," the Russian ambassador stressed.

He said that the West is inciting further bloodshed in Ukraine by pumping the country with weapons. "Western states are directly involved in the current events as they continue to pump Ukraine with weapons and ammunition, thereby inciting further bloodshed," he noted.

"We warn that such actions are dangerous and provocative as they are directed against our state," the envoy emphasized. "They can lead the US and the Russian Federation onto the path of direct military confrontation. Any supply of weapons and military equipment from the West, performed by transport convoys through the territory of Ukraine, is a legitimate military target for our Armed Forces," Antonov added.

The Russian envoy also touched upon the activities of biological laboratories in Ukraine. "What does the Pentagon have to do with health issues? Why are biolaboratories established along Russian borders - thousands of kilometers away from the American territory?" he said.

Russia is doing everything possible in order to end military activities

Antonov added that Moscow is taking the necessary measures to ensure the safety of civilians and maintain the normal operation of critical infrastructure facilities in Ukraine. "The Russian Federation is taking the necessary measures to preserve life and safety of civilians," he pointed out. "We do everything to maintain the normal functioning of critical infrastructure facilities, to ensure law and order and the security of people. The strikes are made only on military targets and exclusively with high-precision weapons," the Russian envoy added.

Also he added that Moscow is doing everything possible in talks with Kiev in order to end military activities and restore peace in Donbass. "Russia is doing everything possible to negotiate a path to the prompt completion of the confrontation, the restoration of peace in Donbass and the return of all the peoples of Ukraine to peaceful life," he stressed.

"Our principled position regarding the settlement of the conflict has been clearly defined," Antonov added. According to him, it includes "the demand for an unconditional consideration of Russia's security interests, the demilitarization and denazification of the Ukrainian state, ensuring its neutral and non-nuclear status, as well as the recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea and the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.".

The goal of a special military operation

According to Antonov, the goal of operation "is to put an end to the genocide perpetrated by the Kiev regime and ensure a nuclear-free and neutral status of Ukraine." "The policy of our country is based on the right for all the peoples living today in the Ukrainian territory to choose their own future," Antonov noted. "Together we need to get rid of the nationalists who seized power in Kiev as soon as possible, turn this tragic page and move forward to build mutually respectful and equal relations," the Russian ambassador said.

According to Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov, evidence was unearthed during Russia’s special military operation that the Kiev regime had urgently eliminated traces of a US Department of Defense-funded military biological program in Ukraine. Ukrainian laboratories’ staffers testified that on February 24, pathogens of plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera and other deadly diseases had been urgently eliminated.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation based on a request from the heads of the Donbass republics. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans to occupy Ukrainian territories and the goal was to demilitarize and denazify the country. In response, the West introduced major sanctions against Moscow, in fact, unleashing an economic war on Russia.