Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he had pointed out to UN Secretary-General António Guterres that the situation around Ukraine was largely the result of NATO's limitless expansion.
"We see - and I have told our colleague and friend António Guterres about this in detail today - that to a large extent this situation has accumulated and in a decisive context it has occurred as a result of the course taken by our American colleagues and their allies toward the borderless expansion of NATO, the establishment of a unipolar world," Lavrov said at a news conference following talks with the UN Secretary-General.
Lavrov also discussed with the UN Secretary-General the situation in Europe, around Ukraine, the LNR and DNR. "For obvious reasons, the main attention was paid to the situation on the European continent in the context of what is happening in Ukraine, in the DNR, in the LNR. The situation there was not developed today, not yesterday," he said.
"We are very grateful to the Secretary-General and his team for their understanding of the need to consider the situation in and around Ukraine not in isolation from the processes on the world stage, but in the context of those processes, those trends that accumulate and which are not always in line with the UN ideals, not always in line with the principles enshrined in the UN Charter," the minister added.
The Russian foreign minister said he discussed with Guterres the strengthening of humanitarian cooperation. "After contacts between the UN Secretary-General and our defense ministry, we agreed and formed a working group, which is in Moscow, on the basis of our defense ministry, UN representatives agree on specific things that help safely organize the delivery of humanitarian aid," he said. - "And we have discussed possible actions to strengthen our cooperation on this front today. "I think that following the talks in Moscow, we will be able to decide about these kinds of steps, to what extent they may be required in today's environment".
Lavrov said that Russia is interested in cooperating with the United Nations in providing assistance to Ukrainian civilians.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS