After talks with his Croatian counterpart, Gordan Grlic Radman, the official added that the United States had spread information that Moscow would organize an attack on the Russian-speaking population in Donbass, in order to have a pretext to launch attacks on Ukraine.

Lavrov stressed that the current tragedy in that country began in 2014. It was not the consequence of some kind of provocation by Russia, but the result of a coup d’état supported and even largely organized by Washington.

The Russian foreign minister noted that due to those events, Kiev is currently under external control of the United States, so, in his opinion, Washington is in a position to force the Ukrainian Government to comply with the Minsk agreements.

The diplomat recalled that this issue was discussed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Joe Biden, during the June 16, 2021 summit in Geneva. “I hope that the US colleagues will take care of it,” he noted.

On Monday, Alexander Lukashevich, Russia’s permanent representative at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), noted that the statements by Kiev’s representatives to that body indicate that Ukraine is working to break the Minsk agreements.

“Ukraine, perhaps, in words, sometimes confirms a certain commitment to a set of proposals for a settlement, but is working on its practical demolition,” he asserted, according to TASS news agency.

The February 2015 Minsk agreements aim the peaceful settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine and, in addition to ceasefire, provide for the withdrawal of weapons, an amnesty and the restoration of the economic ties.

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