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Ukraine completely lost for Russia as partner and ally — Kremlin spokesman

Dmitry Peskov noted that Ukraine "is declaring its intention to join NATO openly, officially, actually at a legislative level"

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. Ukraine is completely lost for Russia as a partner and ally, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

"Have we lost Ukraine as a partner, ally and so on? At this point, yes, completely," he said in an interview with RTVI. In this context, he noted "the Ukrainian authorities’ hostility toward Russia."

According to the Kremlin spokesman, the Ukrainian authorities are doing their utmost "to cut the cord linking it to Russia in any way." "They are simply cutting everything, from the capillary vessels to the central arteries of our bilateral relations. They have already cut them, to be more precise. That is why we have no relations as such," he said, adding that Russians and Ukrainians will nevertheless remain brotherly nations. "A brotherly people cannot be lost, it will always be a brotherly people," he said. "Yes, [Ukraine’s] authorities may keep on trying to cheat on their people, to imbue them with hatred for Russians, for Russia, to strip them of the chance to get first-hand information from our mass media. They can ban our mass media, ban our internet websites, but the two brotherly people cannot lose one another."

The Kremlin spokesman noted that Ukraine "is declaring its intention to join NATO openly, officially, actually at a legislative level." "It is very bad for us because this way NATO’s military infrastructure will inevitably begin drifting toward our borders. Without [Ukraine’s] membership in NATO, we now see how the alliance is gradually beginning to absorb, intrude into Ukraine," he said.

NATO began with supplies of defensive weapons, then it began to supply offensive weapons, then - double-use weapons, then it began to send instructors who teach Ukrainian soldiers how to use these advanced weapons.

"NATO’s creeping intrusion into Ukraine is already taking place and Russia cannot stay indifferent to it. That is why Putin’s position is quite tough on the one hand and coherent and peaceful on the other. His initiative to agree to some binding security guarantees is a very constructive proposal, which can fence us off from the tension which has emerged on the European continent over the Ukrainian problem," Peskov said.

He noted that "rhetoric, which seemed like it would never return: detente and the like, is now being used again." "We thought that it was lest in the Cold War era and will never be back. And here it is again," he added.