Third anniversary of Russia-Ukraine conflict: Russia hails Sri Lanka’s neutral position

Colombo, Feb 13 (Daily Mirror) - On the occasion of the third anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russian Ambassador Levan S. Dzhagaryan commended Sri Lanka’s neutral, non-aligned policy in this regard and expressed hope that the new government will follow the same stand.

Delivering remarks to the media at the Russian embassy in Sri Lanka, he said U.S. President Donald Trump’s telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin offered hope for the future in terms of the resolution of the conflict.
 
He said demilitarisation, denazification of Ukraine, the neutral, non-aligned, non-nuclear status of Ukraine,  recognition of Crimea, Sevastopol, Donetsk Popular Republic (DPR), Lugansk Popular Republic (LPR), Kherson and Zaporizhia regions as integral part of Russia and lifting all western sanctions against Russia, as outlined in  June 2024  by President  Putin as conditions for initiatives to end the conflict.

“Ukraine is an artificially created state.   As our President Vladimir Putin said, this is a country named after USSR founder Vladimir Lenin. When this country was formed, it included originally Russian lands, namely Novorossiya.

In 1954, the then leader of the Soviet Union, ethnic Ukrainian Nikita Khrushchev, without asking for the opinion of the residents of Crimea, transferred this peninsula to Ukraine. After gaining independence in 1991, the nationalistically minded leaders of the country carried out forced Ukrainization in every possible way and infringed on the rights of ethnic Russians. All these actions were encouraged by Western countries, led by the United States.

Then it worsened. At the NATO summit in Bucharest in April 2008, member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization promised Ukraine that they would accept it, which is absolutely unacceptable for us. Let me explain. We do not want to see NATO missiles and military structures near our borders, just as the Americans would not like to see ours near the borders of the United States.

Following the unconstitutional coup d'état in 2014, the so-called Maidan, the nationalist leaders of what was then Ukraine unleashed a war against the people of Donbas. This forced us to take retaliatory measures to protect our people there and in Crimea.

Based on the desire to resolve the conflict, Russia agreed to conclude the Minsk agreements in the Normandy format with the participation of Ukraine, Germany and France. As it turned out later, François Hollande and Angela Merkel had no intention of implementing the provisions from the very beginning and wanted to gain time to militarily strengthen Ukraine. Immediately before the start of the Special Military Operation, we repeatedly called on our partners, primarily the United States, to resolve this problem taking into account the interests of the Russian population in Donbas and respect for Russian security concerns. However, all these efforts were arrogantly rejected.

We had no choice but to launch the Special Military Operation on February 24, 2022. Soon after, the negotiation process began in Istanbul, as a result of which an agreement was prepared and initiated. Its text satisfied Ukraine. However, then Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrived in Kyiv and called for not fulfilling the agreements, but waging war till the last Ukrainian.

In addition, at the end of September 2022, Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree by which he forbade negotiations with the Russian Federation. It is also worth noting here that Zelensky is an “expired” president, because, according to the Constitution of Ukraine, he lost legitimacy back in May 2024.

With the arrival of Donald Trump, a new window has opened. However, we have not yet heard any serious proposals from the United States. We proceed from the fact that the first step should be taken by the American side, and the negotiations should be conducted on the basis of principles of equality, and mutual respect and with taking into account the situation at the front.

I would like to note that despite Zelensky's illegitimacy, we are ready to negotiate with him, though the question of his signature arises, if and when such agreements are reached.

It is noteworthy that there is no unity in the EU's plans for a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis. There are countries, such as Slovakia, that are in favor of the negotiation process. But there are also "hawks" who hinder this: Great Britain, France, Poland, Baltic states, NATO Secretary General. We have often heard that they are ready to assist Ukraine as much as it needs. I personally have already heard this in relation to Afghanistan, when Western leaders have repeatedly declared their readiness to provide assistance to the Ashraf Ghani regime as much as necessary. We know how it ended. In August 2021, the Americans and their allies fled the country after a shameful defeat by the Taliban movement.

There is a question of trust here. We have been deceived many times, with the Minsk and Istanbul agreements, so there can be no talk of a ceasefire or freezing the conflict. We need a lasting peace that ensures the security of Russia and Ukraine. And most importantly: Russia will not tolerate any language of ultimatums,” he said.