Foreign Minister Lavrov has informed Secretary Blinken that the “propaganda campaign” about “Russian aggression” against Ukraine has provocative purposes, and reiterated Russia’s security concerns about NATO’s plans to expand further east, the Russian Foreign Ministry has indicated in a readout of Saturday’s talks.

“The minister emphasised that the propaganda campaign launched by the United States and its allies about ‘Russian aggression’ against Ukraine has provocative goals, encouraging the authorities in Kiev to sabotage the Minsk Agreements and pernicious attempts to resolve the ‘Donbass problems’ by force,” the ministry said.

Lavrov was also said to have commented on the decision by NATO and Washington to reject the Russian security guarantee proposals presented in December aimed at dramatically easing tensions and improving the security situation in Europe.

“As the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry noted, the reaction by Washington and Brussels to the draft Russian-US treaty and the draft agreement with NATO on security guarantees which we submitted ignores provisions which the Russian side considers to be key, first and foremost on the non-expansion of the alliance and the non-deployment of strike weapons near Russia’s border,” the statement added.

“It was emphasized that these issue would take center stage in our assessment of the documents received from the US and NATO, which will be brought to the attention of our colleagues,” the ministry stressed.

Source: Agencies (editted by Al-Manar English Website)