Russia will do everything within its power to prevent a war with Ukraine, Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko said on Wednesday.
Russia to do everything it can to avoid war with Ukraine
STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 16, ARTSAKHPRESS: "Our stance has been clearly defined by the Russian leader: we, on our part, will do everything to prevent a war with Ukraine, to make sure that it never starts - not today, not tomorrow, not the day after tomorrow," the speaker of the Russian parliament’s upper house said in an interview with Russia’s Parlamentskaya Gazeta.
"The very thought of a war is total absurdity for us," she said, adding that Russia and Ukraine share centuries of common history. "Of course, our nations are not living through the best of times in relations, to put it mildly. Nevertheless, I believe that any problem can be solved peacefully, through diplomatic means and political ways."
Matviyenko is convinced that there have been no objective reasons to accuse Russia of aggressive plans.
Concerns over Moscow’s alleged preparations for an invasion into Ukraine have been increasingly voiced in the West and in Kiev recently. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov castigated these statements as an empty and groundless escalation of tension, emphasizing that Russia posed no threat to anyone. At the same time, the Kremlin press secretary did not rule out possible provocations to justify such claims and warned that the attempts to resolve the Ukrainian conflict by force would carry extremely serious consequences.
