MOSCOW, January 18. /TASS/. The US-led West is not allowing Ukraine to make its own decisions and decides for Ukraine without Kiev’s participation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.

"We often hear assertions from the West that ‘not a word can be said about Ukraine without Ukraine.’ But, in fact the West is making decisions for Ukraine," Lavrov said, speaking at his annual press conference on the results of Russian diplomacy in 2022.

"They have already prohibited [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky from coming to an agreement with Russia in late March. The West decided for Ukraine and made it on behalf of Ukraine without Ukraine," the top Russian diplomat noted.

Speaking about the negotiations in March 2022, when Moscow backed the Kiev-proposed initiative on settling the conflict, Lavrov pointed out that it was the West, which "restrained Ukraine harshly."

"Since then, many Western representatives resorted to various tones on numerous occasions saying that it was still too early to get back to negotiations since it [Ukraine] needs to be supplied with more weapons so that it could resume talks from much stronger positions," the Russian minister added.

Lavrov also said that Moscow would respond seriously to any noteworthy proposal put forward by the United States.

Russia’s special military operation

On February 21, 2022, President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow was recognizing the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, (the DPR and LPR respectively). Russia signed agreements on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance with their leaders. Moscow recognized the Donbass republics in accordance with the DPR and LPR constitutions within the boundaries of the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions as of the beginning of 2014.

Russian President Putin announced on February 24, 2022, that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics for assistance, he had decided to carry out a special military operation in Ukraine. The DPR and the LPR launched an operation to liberate their territories under Kiev’s control.

From September 23 to September 27, 2022, the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic as well as the Kherson Region and the Zaporozhye Region held a referendum where the majority of voters opted to join Russia.

On September 30, 2022, Russian President Putin and the heads of the DPR, the LPR, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions signed treaties on their entry to Russia. Later, the State Duma and the Federation Council (the lower and upper houses of Russia’s parliament) approved legislation on ratifying these treaties, as well as federal constitutional laws on the accession of the four regions to Russia.