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Moscow hopes West’s reason will prevail regarding tensions around Ukraine, says envoy

Kiev has been striving to settle the problem in Donbass through the use of force, Konstantin Gavrilov notes

MOSCOW, November 24. /TASS/. Head of the Russian Delegation to the Negotiations on Military Security and Arms Control in Vienna, Konstantin Gavrilov, hopes that in spite of the escalation in Ukraine, reason will prevail in the West.

"Hysteria is being heated up by both Western and Ukrainian media, and in government circles that Russia is allegedly concentrating its forces on the border and is about to attack Ukraine. I believe that tension is being deliberately ramped up, and they are trying to scare us. But yesterday there was a meeting between Chairman of the US Armed Forces Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and Head of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff, First Deputy Minister of Defense Army General Valery Gerasimov, so I think that reason will prevail," he said on the Rossiya-24 TV news channel on Wednesday.

According to Gavrilov, Moscow sees that Kiev has been striving to settle the problem in Donbass through the use of force and received support on this score from Western countries, who claim this backing is necessary in order to contain Russia, "otherwise Ukraine will be allegedly invaded."

"In this context it is necessary to consider what happened on the Black Sea. There were drills with the participation of the Ukrainian fleet. We have been observing aircraft flights over the Black Sea for a long time, almost 50 reconnaissance flights per week. Strategic bombers are now coming from the east and west. In all probability, weapons are being pumped into Ukraine. The latest data suggest that 60 million [dollars] in November, and another 600 million [dollars] was allocated by the US to support Ukraine and urge other countries [to follow suit]," he noted.

Gavrilov stressed that Russia’s anti-aircraft systems detect all US transports to the region. "This does not reduce strife, but we do hope that this meeting would help diffuse tension, and that reason will prevail. As the saying goes, we are a peaceful people but our armored train stands ready," he concluded.