BERLIN, Feb 8 - RIA Novosti. The head of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, expressed the opinion that the United States should "directly or indirectly" participate in the work of the "Normandy format" (Russia, Ukraine, Germany, France) on the settlement in the Donbass.
"As long as Russia is ready to participate, the format needs to be maintained. However, Russia seems to be only ready for serious negotiations with the United States on the European security order. Therefore, it would be desirable to involve America - whether directly or indirectly - to participate in the Normandy format," Ishinger said in an interview with the Funke media group.
The diplomat spoke in favor of supplying defensive weapons to Ukraine. "It is very important that economic deterrence is accompanied by military deterrence. The supply of defensive weapons can make an important contribution to the deterrence effect and, thus, to the prevention of war," Ischinger said, pointing out that Germany should not be limited to the supply of 5,000 helmets, as this calls into question its solidarity.
The Russian Federation expresses concern that the West continues to "pump up" Kiev with weapons and send military instructors.
The so-called "Normandy format" of negotiations on Ukraine has existed since June 2014. Then, during the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the landing of Allied troops in Normandy, the leaders of Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France for the first time discussed the settlement of the conflict in Donbass. The previous summit was held in Paris on December 9, 2019. Recently, the parties at different levels have been discussing the prospects for cooperation in this format.
Moscow categorically denies the plans attributed to Russia to escalate the situation around Ukraine and constantly states that they do not threaten anyone, and all such statements are used as an excuse to deploy more NATO military equipment near the Russian borders. As Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier, Russia does not create any reasons for a conflict situation around Ukraine. According to him, Russia does not rule out that the hysteria around Ukraine promoted by the West is aimed at covering Kiev's line of sabotage of the Minsk agreements on Donbass. According to the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, the information hysteria of the United States and NATO on Ukraine is generously framed by lies and fakes.
