Russian Foreign Minister optimistic about peace deal for Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on February 7 that there was reason to be optimistic about a peace deal for Ukraine. However, he also warned against supplying weapons to Kiev and criticized the United States and Europe for fueling the crisis, Reuters and AFP reported.

Speaking during a discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Lavrov said: "We believe there are grounds for optimism and recommendations for a solution to the conflict."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

According to him, Russia is ready to guarantee a new peace plan based on the Minsk agreements signed by Kiev, separatists and Moscow in September 2014 but so far has not been able to help end the fighting.

However, the Russian diplomat also criticized the growing opinion in the West that "we should provide lethal weapons to Ukraine," stressing that such a view would only aggravate "the tragedy in Ukraine."

On the same day, the leaders of Germany, Ukraine and US Vice President Joe Biden began a three-way meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference to discuss a peace plan for eastern Ukraine.

The moves came amid continued fierce fighting in the Debaltseve and Mariupol regions of eastern Ukraine, which has left seven civilians and five soldiers of the Kiev government dead.

According to Volodymyr Polyovyi, an official from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, the separatist rebels are concentrating their forces, including tanks, armored personnel carriers and rocket launchers, to launch new attacks on the two areas./.

According to VNA