Alwaght-Russia says slapping more sanctions on Moscow is ‘futureless’ and would not help resolve the Ukrainian crisis, as Press TV reports.
“Building up confrontation with an aim to put pressure on Russia with sanctions is futureless. We are not going to give up our national interests and fundamental stance on the key issues,” read the statement by the Russian foreign ministry issued after the talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.
“At the same time, the Russian side is ready for constructive interaction with the United States both in the sphere of bilateral relations and in the international arena where our countries bear special responsibility for global stability," the statement added.
Moscow also warned that US plans to provide the government in Kiev with weapons and military hardware would bring about “unpredictable consequences” which might “disrupt efforts to reach a political settlement in southeast Ukraine," the statement said.
According to the statement, Lavrov and Kerry also discussed several other issues in their meeting including Iran’s nuclear program, the Syrian conflict, and the latest developments in Yemen.
US support arms delivery to Ukraine
Earlier in the day, US Vice President Joe Biden said Washington will continue to supply the Ukrainian government with weaponry.
“We will continue to provide Ukraine security assistance. Not to encourage war but to allow Ukraine to defend themselves,” said Biden in the German city of Munich.
Biden also accused Moscow of delivering weaponry to pro-Russia forces in eastern Ukraine, saying Russian President Vladimir Putin has deliberately violated the peace deals aimed at restoring stability to the violence-wracked region.
“Too many times President Putin has promised peace and delivered tanks, and troops, and weapons,” the US official stated.
Germany Says no to Arming Kiev
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her opposition to sending arms to Ukraine, saying it would not solve the crisis in the country's east.
“I understand the debate, but I believe that more weapons will not lead to the progress Ukraine needs. I really doubt that,” she said.
The remarks came a day after Merkel, along with French President Francois Hollande held talks with Putin in the Russian capital Moscow.
Merkel’s stance greatly infuriated such US Republican hardliners as Lyndsey Graham and John McCain who said the mediating efforts of Germany and France to end bloodshed in eastern Ukraine would fail to deliver any practical results.
"The Ukrainians are being slaughtered and we're sending them blankets and meals. Blankets don't do well against Russian tanks," McCain pointed out.
The Moscow-West relations have cooled sharply after Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea joined the Russian Federation following a referendum in March 2014.
Relations were strained further after Ukraine launched military operations in April 2014 to silence the pro-Russia protests in Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in the east. The fighting has left more than 5,300 people killed, 12,200 wounded and 1.5 million displaced, the United Nations says.
