MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st September, 2021) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the situations in Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine with the ambassadors of EU member countries in Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated on Tuesday.
"Pressing international issues were considered with an emphasis on the situation in Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and Mali, the situation in the post-Soviet space (including resolution in Nagorno-Karabakh), the state of strategic stability in Europe, and the possibilities of cooperation in the Arctic and Asia-Pacific region," the official message said.
The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry also noted the importance of pragmatic and unideological interaction between nations, without any attempt to divide the world into "friends" and "enemies."
The ministry added that when discussing the situation in Ukraine, the Russian side emphasized again the pressing need for Kiev to fulfill the Minsk agreements, which are the sole basis for resolving the internal Ukrainian conflict, as well as the Ukrainian authorities' compliance with the state's constitution and international obligations related to ensuring the rights of Russian-speaking inhabitants of the country.
Relations between Moscow and Kiev deteriorated against the background of the situation in Donbas, following the coup d'état in Ukraine in February 2014. The Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly accused Russia of interfering in its internal affairs. In January 2015, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a statement in which Russia was called "an aggressor country." Russia denies the accusations of the Ukrainian side and calls them unacceptable. Moscow has repeatedly stated that it is not a party to the internal Ukrainian conflict and is interested in Kiev overcoming the political and economic crisis.
