UNITED NATIONS – Russia accused Ukraine Thursday of repeatedly violating a 2015 cease-fire agreement aimed at bringing peace to the breakaway Donbass region, but called claims that it planned to invade Ukraine “baseless”.
“Ukraine stubbornly refuses to implement the provisions of the Minsk Agreements,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin told the UN Security Council.
He accused Kiev of repeated attacks on the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine, causing “thousands of victims”.
“Ukrainian representatives keep coming up with new excuses not to implement their agreements,” he said.
“Attempts to place the blame on Russia are futile and baseless” and aim at “shifting the blame away from Ukraine”, he said.
Vershinin rejected as “a baseless accusation” claims by the United States and European allies that Moscow is seeking to fabricate a pretext to invade Ukraine.
“I think we have had enough speculation on that,” he said. – AFP, February 18, 2022
