Russia has called on Western countries to stop encouraging the militarisation of the situation in southeastern Ukraine, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said
The politician recalled that the conflict in the east of Ukraine has no military solution.
“It is fixed by all those countries that are so concerned about civilians, about civilians and in principle about the situation in Ukraine,” the diplomat said at the briefing.
Zakharova added that Moscow believes that the Kiev authorities are being “pumped” with weapons by Washington.
According to her, attempts to resolve the contradictions by force would have unpredictable and tragic consequences.
For their part, Berlin and Paris, as participants in the Normandy format, should use their influence to bring the Ukrainian partners “back to the path of achieving a lasting peace by political and diplomatic means”.
The Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation in April 2014 against the self-proclaimed LNR and DNR, which declared independence after the coup d’état in Ukraine in February 2014. According to the latest UN figures, some 13,000 people became victims of the conflict.
The issue of settling the situation in Donbass has been discussed, including during meetings in Minsk of the contact group, which since September 2014 has already adopted three documents regulating steps to de-escalate the conflict, but exchanges of fire continue.