Washington believes that the interests of national security compel the United States to continue contacts with Russia, but at the moment the United States does not plan to continue the bilateral dialogue on strategic stability. This was announced on Friday, February 25, during a briefing by State Department spokesman Ned Price. The broadcast was on Twitter departments.
“We have national security priorities and imperatives. And there are areas in which the implementation of our priorities and imperatives in the field of national security requires us to interact and coexist with Russia at some level. These are areas of extreme importance,” he explained.
Answering a question from journalists about new contacts with Moscow, the representative of the American foreign policy department also touched upon the bilateral dialogue on strategic stability. According to him, at present the United States does not plan to hold it.
At the same time, the press secretary of the President of Ukraine, Serhiy Nikiforov, said on February 26 that the country was ready for a ceasefire and peace. He added that Kyiv and Moscow are consulting on the place and time of the negotiation process.
Earlier on Friday, February 25, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, said that Kyiv had refused to negotiate with Moscow, suggesting that the issue be postponed until tomorrow.
On the same evening, Ankara expressed its readiness to accept a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky. The country’s Foreign Ministry stressed that the fact of the meeting is now important, and not the place of its holding.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special operation to protect the civilian population of Donbass. After that, the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of hitting the country’s military infrastructure and introduced martial law throughout Ukraine. He also said that Kyiv is breaking off diplomatic relations with Moscow and withdrawing its diplomats from the embassy.
The Russian Defense Ministry stressed that the army did not carry out air missile or artillery strikes on the cities of Ukraine. The civilian population of the country is not in danger. High-precision weapons destroy military infrastructure. As of February 25, 211 Ukrainian military installations, including American Javelin anti-tank missile systems and British NLAW, were disabled by high-precision weapons.
On February 21, the heads of the DPR and LPR Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik appealed to Vladimir Putin with a request to recognize the independence of the republics. The corresponding decrees were signed in the evening of the same day. In the presence of the leaders of the republics, the President of the Russian Federation also signed treaties of friendship, cooperation and assistance. The documents were ratified the next day by both the republics themselves and the Russian State Duma.
The situation in Donbass escalated on February 17, 2022. In the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, heavy shelling by Ukrainian security forces was reported, including from heavy weapons. The republics announced a general mobilization and evacuation of civilians to the territory of Russia.
Since 2014, the Ukrainian authorities have been conducting a military operation against the inhabitants of Donbass, who refused to recognize the results of the coup d’état and the new government in Ukraine. At the same time, Kyiv blames Moscow for the current situation. Russia has repeatedly stated that it is not a party to the conflict.
Source: IZ
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
