MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. The West and Kiev are now only talking about a ceasefire in Ukraine, which does not suit Moscow as it needs legally binding guarantees, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"As for the essence of the conversations that are now taking place in the West and in Ukraine: they are talking exclusively about a ceasefire that will allow the Kiev regime, with the help of the West, to once again gather forces and make new attempts to carry out the orders of its masters to inflict a 'strategic defeat' on Russia," the top diplomat said during a 60 Minutes program on the Rossiya-1 TV channel. "Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly spoken about this during the combined Direct Line Q&A and year-end press conference, at the Valdai International Discussion Forum, at the Russia Calling! Investment Forum: a ceasefire doesn’t suit us, we need reliable, legally binding agreements," he emphasized.

According to Lavrov, these agreements should be aimed at eliminating the root causes of the Ukrainian conflict. "These include common security in Europe, NATO's expansion, the EU's recent decision to join NATO and, by and large, eliminate all differences between these two organizations, and, undoubtedly, the rights of the peoples who decided to reunite with Russia," the foreign minister said.