MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will travel to New York to personally participate in a debate on the Middle East and a meeting on Ukraine at the UN Security Council from January 22-24, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"Yes," she said when asked if the minister will participate in these events in person.

Zakharova earlier said at a news conference that Lavrov plans to take part in the quarterly open debate of the UN Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian issue, as well as in the Security Council meeting on the Ukrainian issue, which has been convened by Russia.

It is expected that at the event on the Middle East settlement, discussion will continue about solutions for the current large-scale crisis in the area of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. With respect to the planned discussion of the Ukrainian issue, Zakharova said Moscow views it as "a good opportunity to use the high platform of the United Nations to once again convey Russia's position to the international community," including political and diplomatic ways of resolving the crisis while taking into account "legitimate Russian security interests."