VIENNA, November 17./TASS/. Kiev’s option for settling the Donbass conflict through force may ruin the Ukrainian nationhood. Nobody is interested in this, Konstantin Gavrilov, who is leading the Russian Arms Control Delegation in Vienna told a meeting of the OSCE forum for security cooperation on Wednesday.

Gavrilov expressed confidence that the deterioration of the situation in Donbass is the fault of the Ukrainian authorities and "is used by Kiev’s Western managers" to put pressure on the Russian Federation via awkward arguments concerning a mythical "Russian threat to Ukraine’s sovereignty."

He also dubbed the unscheduled naval of NATO and the US in the Black Sea as "reconnaissance by fire." Against this background, the Russian diplomat considered comments in response to Western propaganda explanations of such a show of force, which no longer surprise Russia, to be redundant.

"It is not by chance that we have mentioned the military drills in the Black Sea. In our opinion, they are directly connected with an outbreak of tensions in the zone of the military conflict in Ukraine that we are witnessing. It seems that Kiev is indeed seriously looking into an option of the settlement of the conflict in Donbass by force," Gavrilov said.

"We once again warn our Western partners and the Kiev authorities against such thoughtless moves that may ruin the Ukrainian nationhood that is already fragile. I am sure that nobody is interested in events unfolding in that way," he told the forum.

Attempts to demand from Russia a particular "implementation" of the Minsk agreements only divert attention from the main problem - Kiev’s non-compliance with its provisions, the head of the Russian delegation noted. "Our duty as a mediator, along with the OSCE, Germany and France - is to facilitate a peace settlement, towards which we are making great efforts, I assure you. We once again urge the Western partners to influence the Ukrainian authorities in order to pave the way for a full-fledged compliance with the Minsk deals," he noted.