MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/. The United States paved the way for its current systemic confrontation with Russia in 2014, when it distanced itself from the Minsk peace process, Russian Security Council First Deputy Secretary Rashid Nurgaliyev told news outlet aif.ru in an interview.

"The Americans played quite a major role in the demise of the Minsk-2 [agreement] as they demonstrated their negligence of that document by refusing to give their guarantees," Nurgaliyev said. "They distanced themselves from the Minsk process back in 2014, when the Obama administration laid the basis for a systemic confrontation with Russia," he added.

Meanwhile, Kiev took guidance not from Paris or Berlin, but from Washington, the senior Russian security official said. "And the United States closed its eyes to what was happening in Donbass, as it sent a clear signal: do whatever you want," he concluded.

"Such an approach freed the hands of Ukrainian leaders. First, [former Ukrainian President] Pyotr Poroshenko, then [incumbent Ukrainian President] Vladimir Zelensky did not comply with any agreements. The Ukrainian authorities set up a blockade of the Lugansk People’s Republic and Donetsk People’s Republic, as they cut them off from the banking system, food supplies and social payments, and refused to negotiate directly with representatives of these republics," Nurgaliyev maintained.

According to him, since February 2014 the United States has actually controlled Ukraine in its entirety, while the Kiev regime has completely lost its sovereignty in decision-making matters. Meanwhile, "the West had - and it still has - all levers for putting pressure on Kiev," the Russian official insisted as he disparaged Zelensky’s total reliance on London and Washington as "an open secret."