Russian Ambassador to Ankara Alexey Erkhov. File photoANKARA, Apr 3Russia has repeatedly expressed concerns about the failure to comply with the Minsk agreements by the Kiev authorities and the threat to national security, but they did not want to talk to Moscow, Russian Ambassador to Turkey Alexei Yerkhov wrote in an article for the Aydınlık newspaper, recalling the expression “you don’t want to talk with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, You will talk with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.» «We honestly tried to reach out to partners, repeatedly stated our concerns about the failure of the Kiev authorities to comply with the Minsk agreements and the growing threat to Russia's national security. The last attempt was quite recently — in December last year, when Russia was in a desperate In an attempt to reach an agreement, the United States and NATO presented draft legally binding agreements that could calm our anxiety and at the same time ensure de-escalation. They did not want to talk to us, brushing us off like an annoying fly. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, you will talk with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.» Now they are talking,” Yerkhov wrote. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called it the goal of “protecting people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.” For this, according to him, , it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. the main tasks of the first stage were to significantly reduce the combat potential of Ukraine, while the main goal in the Russian military department was the liberation of Donbass. «fog of war»
