MOSCOW, February 9. /TASS/. Moscow is making every effort to prevent Kiev from resolving the Donbass conflict by force, Russian Ambassador to Belarus Boris Gryzlov told the Russia-24 TV channel on Wednesday.

Gryzlov, who is also the plenipotentiary representative in the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine, emphasized that Kiev has violated the Minsk agreements on almost all issues, including the disengagement of forces and hardware along the contact line in Donbass. The self-proclaimed Lugansk and Donetsk Peoples’ Republics, on the contrary, are doing everything possible to fulfill the Minsk accords, according to the diplomat.

"What is happening now [in Donbass] is the worst-case scenario, since the Ukrainians voted for [Ukrainian President] Vladimir Zelensky because he promised to bring [the country] to peace, to hold direct talks with the Donbass republics. They voted for it. People also voted for abandoning the belligerent policy. And now [it] has become even worse, trying to bring Ukraine to a real war, hence, this is the worst scenario," the Russian envoy noted. "But we are making every possible diplomatic effort to prevent Kiev from resolving the crisis by force," Gryzlov stated.