LONDON, January 30./TASS/. Russia does not want a war against Ukraine, while tensions should be removed diplomatically, Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin said in an interview with The Sunday Times published on Sunday.
"Of course not. Everybody is against it and we are absolutely certain that the issue can and should be resolved by diplomatic means, by negotiations," he said when asked whether Russia wanted a war.
The diplomat ruled out the situation in which Russia could move into Ukrainian territory first, before any strike from Ukraine. "No. Absolutely not. No single Russian official has ever said something threatening to Ukrainian people over there, so we have no intention to do that, absolutely," he stressed.
Kelin admitted the risk of a war, however. "If the worse is going to happen, of course, and an incursion of Ukrainian troops will happen on the territory of Donbas, because it will involve large-scale killing of people and very aggressive actions - I do not exclude anything," he said.
Kelin said he would not speculate on what would be Russia’s response if the Ukrainians went further into the Donbass region.
"I would very much advocate that Ukrainians will fulfil the Minsk Agreements, because the Minsk Agreements are the only diplomatic and political solution to the conflict over there," the diplomat stressed.