MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov on Friday said allegations that Russia could invade Ukraine are seeking to provoke aggressive steps by Kiev.
"Those who constantly stir this subject are motivated by a desire that’s opposite to avoiding a conflict - a desire to stoke the situation and provoke the government in Kiev to take ill-conceived and dangerous actions," the diplomat said at a news conference. "We have seen many situations in the past when a similar behavioral standard was used by our opponents on the Western side."
Ryabkov stressed that he would not like to consider the worst-case outcome, "I don’t want to add fuel to the fire," he said.
Instead, Russia is offering a path to de-escalation by proposing two security agreements to the West, Ryabkov said. "I want to take a fire extinguisher in the form of these two proposals and put out some of the glowing embers and flames using that fire extinguisher," he said.
The demands previously voiced by the US and NATO in any statement regarding Russia and Ukraine haven’t had any basis in reality and weren’t helpful in resolving the crisis, he said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday published Russian draft agreements on the security guarantees that Moscow expects to get from the US and NATO.