MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/. London’s efforts to militarize Ukraine are floundering, so the UK is deeply frustrated, which translates into fierce anti-Russian rhetoric, Russia’s Ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin said in a televised interview with the Rossiya-24 channel on Wednesday.
"The United Kingdom had been long busy fashioning Ukraine into an adversary of Russia - it is clear - by investing in this first politically and then militarily," the diplomat said. "Now, there’s deep frustration, no doubt, at what is happening and that all those efforts are going down the drain. So, obviously from here we have this fierce pressure on us," he said.
Kelin pointed out that London had been funneling arms into Ukraine, building military bases on its soil, as well as "ideologically indoctrinating" the Ukrainians. According to Kelin, the UK is "showing off its ostensible support of Ukraine in all areas."
Additionally, the British media is covering the developments in Ukraine "absolutely unilaterally," blaming Russia for bombing the civilian population.
"You will never find information about the real course of the operation in the newspapers," the Russian ambassador concluded.
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 "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." 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.