Lavrov warns Nato against sending peacekeeping troops into Ukraine

Moscow, Mar 23 (EFE).- Any deployment of Nato peacekeeping forces to Ukraine would provoke military clashes between Russia and troops from the Atlantic alliance, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov warned Wednesday.

Poland, a Nato member and one of Kyiv’s main allies which has taken in millions of Ukrainian refugees since Russia invaded a month ago, has proposed sending in an international peacekeeping force to help end hostilities in Ukraine.

“That would entail direct clashes between Russian and Nato forces, which is not only something we would all like to avoid, but we declare that they should not take place on principle,” Lavrov said during a university lecture.

Lavrov also accused the United States of wanting to prolong what president Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin are calling its “special military operation” in Ukraine for “as long as possible.”

“They hope to continue supplying armaments to Ukraine. You can see that they want to keep us as long as possible in a combat state,” he said.

Russia’s foreign minister then turned to Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom he accused of “procrastination” by addressing several Western nations’ parliaments in an attempt to drum up support for Kyiv.

“Procrastination (of negotiations) is aimed at dramatizing the situation, allowing Zelenskyy in his khaki shirt to address the parliaments of the world and after the speech with tears in his eyes to demand Nato interference again,” Lavrov said. EFE

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