As the Russia-Ukraine row hots up, charge d’affaires of the Russian Embassy in India, Roman Babushkin, on Wednesday lashed out at the United States for “using Ukraine for geopolitical games” and said Russia did not expect India to choose partners in the volatile situation.
Addressing a virtual press conference, Babushkin also said ‘recognition’ of breakaway regions was a long-pending issue to prevent “genocide” being practised by Ukrainian authorities.
This statement came a day after Russia recognised Ukraine’s breakaway regions — Donetsk and Luhansk — as independent entities, leading to severe backlash from the international community.
Explaining Russia’s perspective of the ongoing crisis, Babushkin accused the US of internal influence in the domestic affairs in the countries in all post-Soviet space, including Ukraine. He said the West started using Ukraine in the geopolitical against Russia. “(They) violated the agreements on NATO non-expansion, supplying weapons to Ukraine, accelerating its military activities, moving closer the NATO borders to the Russia border to Ukraine.”
The Russian diplomat accused the US of sponsoring the regime change in Ukraine. “The US spent, for the regime change in Ukraine, around $5 billion, including bringing into power in 2014 — the anti-Russian nationalists, who started genocide.”
He said Kyiv was never interested in the implementation of the Minsk agreement, which was endorsed by a United Nations Security Council resolution.
Talking about the fresh sanctions that have been announced by US President Biden against Russia, Babushkin said, “As far as sanctions are concerned, we have heard it so many times that it has become boring.” The sanctions will negatively affect not just Russia but European economy and global stability, he claimed. Meanwhile, reiterating Rusain’s stand on bilateral talks with US, Babushkin said, “We are still ready for dialogue.”
Additionally, Babushkin asserted that India continues to take an “unbiased” stand and Russia “welcomes” the position India has taken in the ongoing crisis around the Ukraine border. “We welcome India’s independent and unbiased stand. India is playing a vital role of independent global power at UN. The country is balanced in its approach.” he added.
India on Tuesday strongly emphasized the need for all sides to exercise the utmost restraint and intensify diplomatic efforts to ensure a mutually amicable solution. Speaking on the UNSC briefing on developments in Ukraine, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, TS Tirumurti said that the escalation of Ukraine-Russia tension has the potential to undermine peace and security of the region. Tirumurti called for restraint on all sides and emphasized that this issue can only be resolved through diplomatic dialogue.
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