Russian Operation Seeks to Avoid Global Conflict: Zakharova

On Thursday, Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that Russian military operations in Ukraine are not intended to start a war but to prevent a regional conflict from turning into a global war.

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"First of all, it is not a beginning of a war... Our desire is to prevent the developments that could escalate into a global war. Second of all, it is the end of a war that has been going on for eight years," she explained, adding that the United States and its allies did not allow diplomatic actions to avoid the ongoing conflict.

"After Geneva, the negotiations were to be further held, with the next round taking place in Paris. However, Paris has refused to negotiate and abandoned all of its mediation efforts," Zakharova denounced, as reported by Al Mayadeen.

To illustrate how the U.S. and its allies hindered the peace process in Donbass, she recalled that Washington ignored what the population of Donetsk and Luhansk decided years ago.

“Western leaders prepared their media to say Russia wants to invade Ukraine. They didn't say that the people of Donbass carried out a referendum, but the Ukrainian government and Europe had refused to recognize the referendum.”

“They say they want to build friendly ties with Russia, but accuse us of not fulfilling our obligations. They refuse to negotiate on global international security," Zakharova said.

The Russian official also recalled that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was supposed to take part in a dialogue with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Europe on Thusday. This, however, did not happen because "it was the American side that refused to conduct further negotiations," Zakharova revealed.