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Level of Russian diplomatic ties with West not on par after Ukraine conflict — Lavrov

"Frankly speaking, I don't even see at the moment the necessity of the same volume of diplomatic contact that was in force in normal times, the times before the West declared war against us using Ukraine’s Nazi regime," the foreign minister said

MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/. Russia considers it unnecessary maintaining the level of communications with the West via diplomatic channels as it had been before the Ukraine conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

"Frankly speaking, I don't even see at the moment the necessity of the same volume of diplomatic contact that was in force in normal times, the times before the West declared war against us using Ukraine’s Nazi regime," Lavrov said speaking during an on-line news briefing.

Speaking about the efforts exerted by diplomatic missions, Lavrov said it was not Russia initiating sanctions.

"We were not the ones to blame for the stark deterioration of the atmosphere between our countries, including in the diplomatic sphere," Lavrov said.

Russia’s special military operation

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

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

From September 23 to September 27, 2022, the DPR and the LPR as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions held referendums on joining Russia, in which the majority of voters opted to join Russia.

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

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Foreign policy Sergey Lavrov

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