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Russia ready to continue mediatory efforts for Ukrainian settlement, says Lavrov

The intra-Ukrainian crisis can be resolved only by the full and consistent implementation of the Minsk Package of Measures, the Russian Foreign Minister reiterated

MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. Russia is ready to continue its mediatory efforts in the Contact Group and in the Normandy format (Russia, Germany, France, and Ukraine) for settling the situation in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in the upper house of parliament on Wednesday.

"The situation in Ukraine is under special control. Our stance is invariable: the intra-Ukrainian crisis can be resolved only by the full and consistent implementation of the Minsk Package of Measures that was approved by a UN Security Council resolution and became an integral part of international law. A success depends on a direct dialogue between the conflicting parties: Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk. Russia is ready to continue taking mediatory efforts within the framework of the Contact Group and the Normandy format," Lavrov pointed out.

NATO is complicating the situation in intra-Ukrainian settlement, pursuing the destructive policy of drawing Kiev ‘into its orbit,’ Russia’s top diplomat stressed.

"Unfortunately, the situation is being seriously complicated by the destructive policy of NATO member states that are seeking to draw Ukraine into their orbit and turning it, as the president put it, into ‘anti-Russia.’ The supplies of lethal weapons to the Kiev regime are expanding and provocative maneuvers with the US participation on land, in the air and at sea near our borders are on the rise," the Russian foreign minister said.