MOSCOW, February 24. /TASS/. Washington refused to negotiate with Moscow before the start of the operation in Ukraine, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told NTV TV channel on Thursday.
"The American side sent an official reply to the Russian side as a message from US Secretary of State [Antony Blinken], which formulated in a detailed, rather boorish in its manner, their unwillingness to hold negotiations with Russia. All this was received by Moscow before the special operation began," she said.
According to Zakharova, the talks due to have been held between Russia and the US in February but canceled, would have focused on the Ukrainian crisis. "The American side refused to continue negotiations, these are the negotiations on security, global strategic stability, the current situation among other issues, and Ukraine would have been part of them," the diplomat said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on Thursday morning that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories.
When clarifying the developments unfolding, the Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.