Russia Urges Addressing Root Causes to Resolve Ukraine Conflict

(MENAFN) The conflict in Ukraine can only be resolved by addressing its “root causes,” Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday, marking four years since the escalation of hostilities, as stated by reports.

Zakharova described Russia’s 2022 military action as a “forced step” under Article 51 of the UN Charter, prompted by what she called the West’s refusal to recognize Russia’s security concerns.

She highlighted ignored proposals regarding NATO non-expansion and statements by Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky at the 2022 Munich Security Conference about Kiev’s nuclear ambitions, which she said created “real risks.”

“Kiev has dismantled the three main foundations of Ukrainian statehood – its neutral, non-bloc, and non-nuclear status – which ensured its international recognition in the early 1990s,” Zakharova added.

She also blamed the 2014 Maidan coup, describing it as a Western-orchestrated event that sparked an eight-year conflict in Donbass and resulted in over 13,500 civilian deaths, which, according to her, were deliberately ignored by international organizations.

Zakharova further claimed that areas controlled by Kiev have since fallen into “genuine neo-Nazi obscurantism.” She cited the glorification of Nazi collaborators, the desecration of monuments to Soviet soldiers, and the crackdown on the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church as evidence that the original objectives of “demilitarization and denazification” remain relevant.

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