MOSCOW, April 23. /ITAR-TASS/. Washington uses Ukraine a pawn in its big geopolitical game, Igor Ivanov, Russia’s former Foreign Minister and now President of the Russian International Affairs Council, said in an article published in Wednesday’s issue of the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily.

“Americans are not going to offer serious help to Kiev and undertake considerable economic expenses,” Ivanov noted. “What matters for Washington is not Ukraine, but the advantage it could derive for its own interests from the crisis.”

At a current stage, according to Ivanov, Washington was seeking to solve at least three tasks, which were only indirectly related to Ukraine. “The first task is to contain Russia, not to let it consolidate its international positions,” he said. “The second task is to breathe in a new life into disoriented NATO and at the same time to make Europeans be more generous in military spending. The third task is to consolidate its own positions on the global energy markets trying to reshape them in its own interests.”

“It would be a fatal mistake not to continue the work commenced a week ago in Geneva,” the Russian politician stressed. “It is absolutely obvious that Ukraine of today is a powder keg, which will explode sooner or later. And the consequences will be grave, if not catastrophic, for all.”

“The Geneva statement, although laconic and declarative, is now the only basis that could be used to build up international cooperation on the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis,” he emphasized.

In his words, further work on the statement should take into account the fact that “Ukraine’s most pressing tasks are to stop violence and deescalate the crisis. Apart from that, a threat of an economic and financial collapse of the Ukrainian state with all possible consequences must prompt Russia, the European Union and the United States “to waste no time and begin to work on economic measures, which are essential now and without which any talk about a constitutional reform or other political transformation are pointless.” Ivanov called on the participants in the Geneva talks to “promptly reach an agreement on how to ensure democratic, transparent and fair elections in Ukraine, and not only presidential elections, but also the elections of a new Verkhovna Rada.”

“All parties concerned must not seek tactical advantages but should be committed to help Ukraine overcome the most acute crisis,” he stressed. However, he reminded, shortly after the signing of the Geneva statement the US president publicly voiced doubts that this statement would be implemented. This way, he “intentionally or not, sided with those who need no settlement at all, who are interested in further escalation of tension in and around Ukraine,” Ivanov added.