Foreign Ministry points to NATO blocking attempts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine

The North Atlantic Alliance's intentions to geopolitically absorb Ukraine are blocking the way to a long-term settlement of the conflict. This was stated by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov on Wednesday, December 18.

According to him, the root of the Ukrainian crisis lies in the expansion of NATO under Washington's leadership into the post-Soviet space, which represented a hostile act towards Russia.

"NATO's pursuit of endless expansion, including the intention to geopolitically absorb and militarily and politically master Ukraine, continues even now without any hesitation or embarrassment. It is presented as an unchangeable goal, as a constant of the alliance's functioning. By and large, this directly blocks any way to a long-term political and diplomatic settlement of the current crisis," he said, speaking at the Valdai international discussion club.

The diplomat noted that the U.S., seeking to maintain global dominance, is taking increasingly risky actions, including provocations and overreaching, putting pressure on the countries they have declared adversaries.

"Since we are talking primarily about states with military nuclear potential (Russia, China, North Korea), the geopolitical games Washington is playing can lead to very severe consequences, up to catastrophic ones," he said.

Ryabkov warned of the real risk of Russia using nuclear weapons in response to further escalation by the West, citing Russian military doctrines.

"They bring us to a red line where we can't retreat."

At a meeting of the Defense Ministry board, Putin revealed the tactics of the West, summarized the results of special operations this year and set tasks for the next one

The day before, Reuters quoted a source as saying that the NATO bloc had taken over the coordination of military aid deliveries to Ukraine instead of the United States. At the same time, it is noted that the North Atlantic alliance will not be required to send its own servicemen to the special operation zone.

Earlier, on December 16, Irish journalist Chey Bose also said that NATO and the EU were trying to maintain their weakening positions in Ukraine only for their own benefit and not for the sake of "freedom and democracy". According to him, Western countries are only interested in mineral resources and for this reason they are ready to depopulate, make Ukraine dependent and bankrupt.

Before that, on November 29, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (his term of office expired in May) said in an interview with the British TV channel Sky News that he might agree to a cease-fire and give up some territories in exchange for Ukraine's membership in NATO. In his turn, Kremlin spokesman Dmitriy Peskov said that Ukraine's NATO membership was unacceptable for Russia because it was a threatening development.

Ukraine applied to join NATO on an accelerated basis on September 30, 2022. At the time, Zelenskyy said that in fact the country was already in the alliance and met its standards.