NEW YORK, April 9. /TASS/. The politicians who are attempting to fit the recent developments into the Ukraine crisis look at the situation superficially and head towards a dead end in the discussions, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said on Saturday at the Schiller Institute Conference, held via video link.
"We have repeatedly said that any system of European security must take into account the national interests of all states, including, of course, Russia. Our country cannot be an object of some phantom defense projects," Antonov said.
The Russian ambassador emphasized that Russia had never insisted on any unilateral advantages, but simply demanded respect for and recognition of its national interests, which were outlined in the proposals to the US and NATO at the end of 2021 but were turned down by them.
"Politicians who try to reduce the whole issue to the crisis in Ukraine are ignoring its origins and driving the discussion to a dead end. They look at the situation superficially, disregarding the root cause of the events. According to this logic, Russia - along with the US and the UK - can be blamed for the occupation in 1945 of Nazi Germany that did so much evil and inflicted so many sufferings on the entire world. The Soviet Union alone lost 27 million people in that war," Antonov stated.