MOSCOW, September 24 Russia respects territorial integrity Ukraine in the conditions of fulfillment of the provisions adopted in the declaration of its independence in 1991, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference following the 78th session of the UN General Assembly.
““In the Declaration of Independence, one of the main points for us was that Ukraine would be a non-aligned country and would not enter into any military alliances. In that wording, under those conditions, we support the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” the minister said.
As Lavrov recalled, Moscow recognized the sovereignty of Ukraine on the basis of its declaration of independence, where “many good things are written down,” including respect for the rights of national minorities. At the same time, the document directly mentions the Russian language.
In this regard, he mentioned the Declaration of Principles on Relations between Sovereign States on the basis of the UN Charter, which states that states are obliged to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of those countries “whose governments respect the principle of self-determination of peoples and, as such, represent the entire population living in a given territory «.
«When they started a war against Donbass, against Crimea, in fact, how can you say that this government (after the coup in 2014 — editor's note), these putschists, represents those people <…> We have no problems with the territorial integrity of Ukraine, it was destroyed by those who carried out and supported the coup, whose leaders declared war against their own people and began to bomb their own people,” Lavrov emphasized.
Also, the head of the Foreign Ministry noted at the press conference that Moscow is ready for negotiations on Ukraine, but will not consider any proposals for a ceasefire, since Russia has already been deceived once.
High-level week of the UN General Assembly is taking place in New York with September 19 to 26. Lavrov heads the Russian delegation.