Russia: No change in US position on Ukraine settlement

MOSCOW, July 1. /TASS/. Washington has not informed Moscow of any changes in its position on the settlement in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.

The diplomat highlighted that Kiev does not seek peace; what it wants is to escalate the conflict and bring Moscow’s closest allies into it.

Commenting on Vladimir Zelensky’s "40 days of hell," Zakharova said it’s he who should be worried about eternal damnation.

TASS has compiled the key statements by the official representative of the Foreign Ministry.

The Ukrainian settlement

Ukraine doesn’t want peace: "We have no illusions about the Kiev regime's real desire for peace. It has no such desire, it never did, and the biggest reason is because the Kiev regime is not independent."

Russia will negotiate on Ukraine with those "who take a responsible approach to the task of achieving a just and sustainable settlement," while the current approach of the Ukrainian authorities, "as well as attempts to talk to Russia in the language of blackmail, threats, and ultimatums, are categorically unacceptable."

Kiev should "stop making crackpot demands and withdraw the Ukrainian Armed Forces from Donbass, which will accelerate the cessation of hostilities."

The United States has not informed Russia of any changes in its position on the settlement in Ukraine: "The Americans themselves have not informed us about any change in their position in bilateral contacts. There was no doubt about the commitment of US President Donald Trump to assist the settlement in principle."

EU countries continue to try to get the US leadership to side with the Kiev regime, "including during the meeting of the Group of Seven in Evian."

Attempts to involve third countries in the Ukrainian conflict

The West has tasked Zelensky with continuing the escalation: "Zelensky is actually trying to provoke escalation. That's the task, that's the task he's been given."

At the behest of the West, the Kiev regime is desperately trying to "scale up the conflict and involve its [Russia’s] closest allies and neighbors in it."

Prospects for relations with the West

It is impossible to talk about the prospects of normalizing relations with the West while Europe pushes forward with militarization, while "outright Russophobia reigns there, and this is just one of the manifestations of nationalism, xenophobia, and intolerance: In such conditions, it is simply not necessary to talk about the prospects for resuming dialogue and normalizing relations."

"Russia takes into account" the complicity of the West in the terrorist acts of the Kiev regime against the country in military planning: "Yes, we see this trend."

US IRSM systems in Japan

Russia considers the deployment of American intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles (IRSM) in Japan "as a step that has a serious negative impact on the stability and security of the Asia-Pacific region and poses a direct threat to Russia's Far Eastern borders."

Russia will take "compensatory measures aimed at strengthening national defense capability" in connection with the IRSM deployment in Japan.

Remembering the victims of Starobelsk

The media of the "collective West still does not seem to have seen this tragedy, which was deliberate."

Russia will not allow the victims of this terrorist attack by the Kiev regime on the pedagogical college in Starobelsk to be forgotten: "The short lives of the young victims of the dastardly terrorist attack are a bright light that was extinguished too soon, but we will do everything to ensure that this light does not fade."

The terror of the Kiev regime

Zelensky cannot control heaven and hell, "but there is no doubt that he belongs to the second category."

The 40-day operation against Russia announced by Zelensky "confirms the terrorist nature of the Kiev regime."

Ukraine’s terror against Russia is on a par with crimes committed by the most heinous terrorist organizations in the world: "What the Kiev regime is doing, what it is doing literally under the guise of protecting some kind of freedom, democracy, receiving enormous resources from the self-proclaimed civilized world - to be honest, no one has ever seen this."

Civilians who have fallen into the hands of Ukrainian militants are "subjected to sophisticated psychological and physical violence: The civilians who returned home on June 26 as a result of the [prisoner] exchange, residents of the Kursk Region, described in detail what they had to go through when they were in Ukrainian captivity, what humiliations they were subjected to. The Kursk Region residents told about the torture of Russian servicemen and prisoners of war, to whom the Ukrainian fiends, for example, branded a trident onto their foreheads, broke and cut their limbs."

More aid to Ukraine from Europe

The aid that the European Union allocated to Ukraine during the international conference in Gdansk will not reach the country and will settle back in the pockets of Ukrainian officials: "No doubt that the announced funds will simply never go to the real restoration of Ukraine, as they call it, because they will not reach there, just like before. The lion’s share will remain in Europe altogether, and what goes to the Kiev regime - we have already seen all this, even on the pages of the Western media - will settle in the pockets of Ukrainian officials, in all their numerous pockets that are scattered around the world."

The "get-together" held in Gdansk, Poland, to provide loans to Ukraine, will force Kiev to "sell off" what is left of the country: "In addition, for this, the government must adopt a lot of laws that destroy the essence of Ukrainian culture, statehood, and its remnants, which are very painful for the people, for the social sphere, and decisions to expand the list of state assets subject to privatization."

The case of blogger Khakimov

Moscow expects that a court in Uzbekistan will make a "fair and humane decision" regarding blogger Azim Khakimov.

Russia is aware of and "is monitoring the development of events around blogger" Khakimov: "In no case do we want to interfere in the internal affairs of our friendly Uzbekistan. At the same time, we cannot ignore the fact that Azim Khakimov is a prominent representative of the public circles of our compatriots in Uzbekistan."