Russia has been trying to prevent war in Ukraine since 2014.
(Baonghean.vn)- Russian President's Press Secretary - Mr. Dmitry Peskov said that Russia has made every effort to prevent war and protect the rights of the people of Donbass region when a coup took place in Ukraine and nationalists came to power.
“When there was a coup in Ukraine in 2014, and it was exactly a coup, and when the nationalists began to raise their heads there, and when the Donbass people did not want to live with them, when they realized that the power of the nationalists was forming, it was a very difficult time,” Mr. Peskov said.
According to Mr. Peskov, "Russia (at that time) did everything to prevent war, to achieve a peaceful solution to this problem and to protect the rights of Donbass, as well as the people of Donbass by political and diplomatic means."
The Russian President's Press Secretary stressed that the Minsk agreements, signed on February 12, 2015, were considered the basis for resolving the situation in Donbass. However, Kiev dragged out the peace process for many years and refused to implement the agreements, and later declared that it did not accept the political content of the package of agreements, as well as refused to have direct dialogue with the Donbass republics.
In addition, Mr. Peskov also stated that Russia has finally overcome the economic recession caused by Western sanctions, and can now gradually and rapidly develop the Russian economy. Mr. Peskov noted that according to all forecasts, Russia should have “fallen into an abyss both economically and socially” after the sanctions were imposed, but that did not happen.
"We have come out of the crisis and our prospects for rapid development are commensurate with today's standards. This is an exceptional situation. You will study how this could happen and where our country and people found such strength," Mr. Peskov said.
According to Mr. Peskov, one of the factors that helps Russia resist the pressure of large-scale sanctions is the patriotism and sense of unity of the people. After Russia launched a military campaign in Ukraine last year, Western countries imposed several rounds of sanctions on Moscow, targeting the banking sector, public debt, energy and other industries.
Last week, President Vladimir Putin said Russia's gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow by more than 2% this year, which will fully offset last year's economic contraction. However, he warned that Western sanctions could still have a negative impact in the medium term. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in April that Western countries, especially the European Union (EU), had exhausted their options for sanctions that could hurt Russia./.
