British Foreign Minister Liz Truss Calls Budapest Memorandum, Foreign Minister Lavrov: Ukraine Doesn't Care

British Foreign Minister Liz Truss with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. (Source: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation)

JAKARTA - The rumors growing in the media that Russia is allegedly gearing up for an operation to take over Kyiv, Ukraine, are completely out of the infamous 'very likely' playbook in London, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference after talks with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

"The concerns raised against us, raised by London and other Western capitals, relate to the fact we are intervening everywhere, and some kind of cyber war is mentioned once again today, rumors, even in some apparently established media about the operation. ," he said, quoting TASS on February 10.

"We are preparing with the aim of seizing Kyivv and all other cities in Ukraine, or that some kind of coup is being planned to install a so-called puppet regime in the Ukrainian capital, all of this is true of the 'very likely' series," Lavrov quipped.

Foreign Minister Lavrov further said that he had attracted the attention of his British counterpart due to the lack of evidence regarding the alleged involvement of Russia in the death of former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, the poisoning of former GRU Colonel Sergey Skripal and his daughter Yulia and the incident with blogger Alexei Navalny.

"Today, we talk a lot about the need to build our work on facts, otherwise it would be pure propaganda. Unfortunately, we haven't heard any facts, nor have we heard any reaction to our statements about the need to somehow validate at least some accusations leveled at Russia," he said.

Foreign Minister Lavrov noted, Foreign Minister Truss mentioned the Budapest Memorandum between Russia, the United States and Britain, which provides security guarantees to Ukraine as a non-nuclear country.

"This Budapest Memorandum does not oblige Russia, Britain or the US to recognize the unconstitutional coup carried out by neo-Nazis and ultra-radicals in February 2014," he stressed.

"No one will impose on us the need, in violation of all of Russia's international obligations, to recognize an unconstitutional regime or especially to justify the actions of this regime, aimed at discriminating against the Russian-speaking population and other members of national minorities, which are now happening every day, and it includes the legislative activities of the Ukrainian regime with the active support of (Ukrainian) President Vladimir Zelensky," said Foreign Minister Lavrov.

He added that the Budapest Memorandum was accompanied by a declaration, the signatories of which included not only Russia, the United States and Britain, but also France and Ukraine.

He recalled that the agreement required all participants not to allow violations of OSCE principles, including the principle of respect for the rights of national minorities.

"Ukraine doesn't care about all this," he concluded.