Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called on the parties involved in the escalating Middle East conflict to abandon confrontation and return to negotiations during a briefing in Moscow on Wednesday.
“We call on all sides to abandon the logic of confrontation and return to the negotiating table,” Zakharova stated, warning that an approach based on ‘escalation in response to escalation’ was causing serious damage.
She said further instability in the Gulf threatened efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and risked spreading the crisis across land, sea and air.
“This alarming turn of events, from which all countries in the region are suffering, further confirms the futility of forceful methods and the absence of a reasonable alternative to a political settlement,” she stressed.
The United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on 17 June aimed at extending a ceasefire and opening negotiations on a broader agreement. Talks began in Switzerland several days later, but the truce subsequently unravelled, with both sides accusing each other of violations and military exchanges resuming.
Zakharova also accused Western countries of using Ukraine as a ‘geopolitical battering ram’ against Russia while seeking access to its land and natural resources.
“They are counting on getting their hands on them either for a song […] or simply in exchange for loans,” she declared.
She further argued that NATO exercises in the Arctic and increased military activity near Russia’s borders raised the risk of potentially serious incidents.
The spokesperson claimed Poland was seeking to strengthen its position on NATO’s eastern flank and described Polish military activity near the borders of Russia and Belarus as demonstrating “the utter irresponsibility of the Polish elite.”
Moscow launched a military offensive in Ukraine in late February 2022 after recognising the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), claiming that Kiev had failed to guarantee their special status under the 2014 Minsk Agreements, and urging Ukraine to declare itself officially neutral and give assurances that it would never join NATO.
Kiev denounced the Russian action as an invasion. Zelensky imposed martial law throughout the country, announcing a general mobilisation, while the EU and the US imposed several rounds of sanctions on Moscow.
Source: Viory
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