MOSCOW, November 19. /TASS/. The United States seeks to divide and rule, but not to stick to integration policy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said to deputies of Russia’s parliament lower house State Duma on Wednesday.

“Russia’s constructive course for integration stumbles at an intention of the US and their allies to divide and rule and to push through their time-serving plans,” the minister said. “Ukrainian crisis resulted from US plans to broaden a geopolitical space they are controlling,” he added.

Russia not a party to conflict in Ukraine

The attempts to cast the blame for the Ukrainian crisis upon Russia have no prospects, Lavrov said. “The truth will always find a way even in the biased Western media,” the minister added.

'The party of war' in Kiev is trying to persuade the West to treat Russia as a party to the conflict in Ukraine, Lavrov told the State Duma. “'The party of war' in Kiev is doing its utmost to bar the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics from the negotiating process and to persuade the West to press Russia for consent to be a party to the conflict,” he said. “This line is absolutely counter-productive and provocative and has no chances to succeed."

Russia’s independent policy is becoming more and more popular in the world and attracts partners in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe, Lavrov noted. “We are ready to cooperate on condition that this cooperation is fulfilled based on the principles of equality, the respect of international law and the acknowledgement of the UN’s key role,” the minister stressed in his address to the State Duma.

Russia calls for dualogue between Kiev and south-east

Moscow is calling on the West to support a dialogue between Kiev and the south-east, but not the “party of war,” the foreign minister said. Lavrov also stressed the need to achieve stable peace and national reconciliation in the war-torn Ukraine. “We call for establishing stable contacts between Kiev and the south-east with the goal of reaching mutually acceptable agreements, and not making every effort for the reckless support of the ‘party of war’,” Lavrov said.

Western partners have repeatedly disrupted the chances for deescalation of the Ukrainian conflict, including the February 21 agreement, the foreign minister said. “The Ukrainian crisis results from the policy carried out by Western countries to strengthen their own security at the expense of others and expanding the geopolitical space controlled by them,” Lavrov added. 

This has been manifested by the consistent waves of NATO expansion despite the assurances that the security in the Atlantic is indivisible, Lavrov said. “The chances for deescalating the conflict in Ukraine have been again and again torpedoed by the West,” he added. 

Ukraine was pushed into a civil war and found itself on the brink of collapse as a result of an anti-constitutional armed coup by radicals, supported by the United States and a number of European countries, the minister said. “Russia could not and cannot indifferently observe what is happening in its neighboring brotherly country,” Lavrov said. “Throughout the Ukrainian crisis, Russia has sought to help reach stable peace and national consent, in which all the Ukrainians would feel comfortable, safe and dignified.”

Minsk agreements not fulfilled

Many clauses of the Minsk agreements are not fulfilled, but they remain a base for the crisis settlement, Lavrov noted. “If we agree that this is the basis for the further settlement, we all should seek their fulfilment,” the minister said. “In the statement made by (Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy) Yatsenyuk regarding the refusal from the Minsk format and replacement it with others, I see the desire to exclude the DPR and LPR (eastern Ukrainian embattled Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics) from the negotiations,” Lavrov said.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s decree on economic blockade of the south-east of the country may be aimed not only at economically stifling the region, but also at preparing an invasion, Lavrov said. “I think that this decree is aimed not only at stifling the south-east socially and economically, but also at preparing the ground for another invasion in order to solve the problem by force,” he said. The foreign minister said he regrets Kiev’s plans to deprive elderly people in eastern Ukraine of benefits provided by the Ukrainian legislation, stressing that this “creates tragedy for people.”