Western troops in Ukraine would mean direct war: Russian FM

Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia would consider the deployment of Western troops on Ukrainian territory a declaration of direct war.

"Let me emphasise that we have no interest in getting involved in this, but if Europe, which talks every day about preparing for war against Russia, attacks the Russian Federation, that will be a completely different war, and it will be very short," he said at the International Festival of Youth in Yekaterinburg on Wednesday.

Lavrov added that Moscow remains ready for a diplomatic settlement, including in the trilateral format that the United States proposed again. He noted, however, that Russia's position on a settlement to the conflict still implies fulfilling the objectives set at the outset and eliminating the root causes, reports Xinhua news agency.

"Therefore, for us, addressing the root causes of threats and protecting the rights of Russian people, their right to their native language and Orthodox faith, are absolutely clear and well-defined objectives of the special military operation," he noted.

"I am confident that achieving these goals, as formulated by President Vladimir Putin, will help not only resolve this crisis but also improve the situation across the entire Eurasian continent, primarily in its western, European part and beyond. This will contribute to the establishment of a world order rooted in a balance of interests and international rules," Lavrov added.

Earlier on Tuesday, during an ambassadorial roundtable discussion on the Ukrainian settlement, Lavrov said that Russia is ready to seek compromises on Ukraine but has never changed its position on preventing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO's) presence on its borders.

"We are ready, within this position, to seek reasonable compromises, but fundamentally we have not changed our objectives -- to ensure our security, to prevent NATO's presence on our borders," he said.

Lavrov added that Russia welcomes the US interest in facilitating a settlement in Ukraine. "The main thing is that the United States understands the root causes of this conflict, unlike all other Western countries," he said.

Speaking of negotiation possibilities, Lavrov reaffirmed that Russia has never rejected talks and is prepared to hold talks in both a bilateral and trilateral format.

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