MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/. The conflict in Ukraine could be settled quite soon but Kiev’s Western handlers are dissuading Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky from negotiating with Moscow, Russian Deputy Permanent Representatives to the OSCE Maxim Buyakevich said on Friday.

"Western countries don’t need a diplomatic settlement of the situation in Ukraine. Indeed, the conflict can be settled quite soon but external sponsors continue to forestall Zelensky from talks carried out from realistic positions," he said at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council.

"Peace in and around Ukraine will be established when NATO countries drop the idea of defeating Russia on the battlefield, no matter whose hands they are trying to do it with," he said.

"Russia is ready for substantive diplomatic contacts to achieve peace and security on the European continent. Escalation is not our choice but we are ready for any scenarios as far as the defense of our country is concerned," Buyakevich stressed.

He warned that "there is a certain threshold for the use of military technical means and when it is surpassed, politicians will lose control over the level of escalation"/ "The West is steadily approaching this threshold," he said. "Not to mention the concentration of American combat contingents in Europe, especially near our border, which is unprecedented since the end of the Cold War".