"Europe is brought to its knees"

"Europe is brought to its knees"

When asked about the current situation regarding Russia's military operation in Ukraine, Zakharova answered that the information from the police comes every day and that briefings on that topic are held several times a day. She added that Ukraine prayed for negotiations, and that after that Ukraine started behaving strangely.

"They are blocking negotiations, deceiving, inventing excuses not to hold negotiations, not to go according to plan, and the way Ukraine worked all these years with the Minsk agreements, setting its own conditions, but in fact everything is clear. That is why we responded to the call of the Kyiv regime, which was formulated as a request, a negotiating group was formed, it was sent, but taking into account that they are blocking those negotiations in all ways, in reality we have what we have", Zaharova pointed out.

"The fact is that the Ukrainian side and the Kyiv regime have been inventing all kinds of proposals all this time, in order to stop them. For example, they sent a negotiating group to an agreed place, although everything is close, everything was unblocked to allow the delegation to pass, they changed routes for days, demanded that the venue of the negotiations be changed. They insisted on negotiating for an hour in this country, for an hour in that country, etc. Everything is clear to all the people who have been monitoring the situation during these eight years. We have lived in such a regime for eight years", added a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry.

According to her, Russia has contributed and done everything possible to bring the parties closer to each other in eight years. "How many years have we spoken and uttered the word reintegration. We have never said that Donetsk, Luhansk should secede, that we should not see them as part of Ukraine. On the contrary, we have always emphasized that it is part of Ukraine, that they are integral part of the united state, yes, everyone should direct their strength to one place, such is the Russian view, it means synergy, unification of efforts to bring the positions of the parties closer and to enable the life process on certain legal bases", she added.

She also pointed out that everything was foreseen by the Minsk agreements, and that encouraging direct dialogue has been Moscow's position for the last eight years. "But you see how interesting it turned out. Interesting in quotes. Not interesting, but tragic. For eight years, Western society in the broadest sense of the word did not want to see what was happening there to the citizens, children, women, the elderly. Honestly, I don't know why the world divides and puts different prices on the lives of men, women and so on. Civilians must not die in peace. Yet, they died," Zakharova explains.

According to her, during those eight years, about 13.000 people died on both sides. "We are not only counting the side of the DNR and LNR, but also the side under the control of the Kyiv regime. Imagine, 13.000 people! When I describe this situation, I use the following expression: 'shame of Europe'. It is a shame of Europe!" Europe went through the tragedy in the Balkans, Europe was at the center of events, but it was the 1990s, it was a kind of emergency, from the point of view of the collapse of a huge state, the Soviet Union, the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, changes in domestic policy. It turns out that Europe has not learned any lessons from these tragic events of the 1990s in the Balkans," Zakharova said.

When asked what is the role of the West in Ukraine and whether they brought Europe to its knees, she said that she did not know in which position Europe stands. "It seems to me that you have described it even more optimistically. It seems to me that the United States has done something worse with Europe than, as you said, throwing it to its knees. I think that the position of Europeans is much more inappropriate now. I would use the word, I don't know how you will translate it, I hope you will translate it adequately, because it is very meaningful. It seems to me that they are torturing Europe. Yes, it contains everything: violence, elements of disrespect, elements of insult and elements of humiliation and the absence of any love for the world that the United States considers its own", says Zakharova.

"There are those who are more important, and there are those who, I guess, are less important and who do not have the right to vote at all. Look, now what we have seen many times is repeated, in 2014 and before, when the United States influences other countries at the hands of the European Union. It's monstrous. It's wild. It's insane. That's right. That's the answer to your question. Secondly, another question arises here. Why does the European Union allow it to be treated like that? Probably we can assume that these people who come to power in a number of European Union countries and in the Brussels institutions are certainly involved in some special relations with the United States. Maybe they are pushing, lobbying, financing. When Europeans talk about it and Borrell, as its foreign affairs representative within the European Union, and many EU officials talk about the fact that there is no other way to solve the situation in Ukraine than the military way of waging war, I have to ask them: are you sure you come from Europe? Are you really international officials, do you get the impression that you do not belong to that continent and that you are not interested in the future of our united Europe at all? As if you and your children will not live in that area", she continues.

She also says that now the impression is that Europeans are imposing a point of view that is not even theirs. "But that is only half the trouble. The main trouble is that this point of view contradicts their real interests. Look: we talked about refugees who came from the territory of Ukraine to the countries of the European Union. That is paradoxical. Only a year, two years ago, people from our country who had visas, many of them even had property in the EU. You know, in the last decade the Russians have bought a lot of real estate in the Baltic countries, Bulgaria, Montenegro, of course. Where else? And in Central Europe. Spain, Italy, and why, because those countries were very active in advertising their opportunities in the territory of our country, which is also interesting, but they could not go there, regardless of the fact that they had real estate there, why. Because the answer was: you do not have vaccines that are recognized as effective in the European Union, your vaccines 'Sputnik', 'Covax' do not have an international certificate, and now refugees are coming from the territory of Ukraine. There are now epidemics of a whole range of diseases in Europe. Measles is still erupting, due to the large number of refugees. What kind of wild contradictions are those", Zakharova asked.

She also asked why in 2014, when Russia received one million and two hundred people in a few months and made it known to the whole world, no one asked what to do with it, whether it should be helped.

"The second moment, if we take what preceded 2022: the present is a reaction, an attitude of apathy, indifference, distances led to tragedy, because the Kyiv regime felt absolute permissiveness, permissiveness and impunity. Zelensky and his team, these strange people, very strange, some DJs, some actors, people who had no roots in that country at all, who don't understand and don't feel it are political mercenaries. A very good term, it seems to me. They play a role. You know, a role can be played in different ways. You can be a charismatic man and use your charisma, your gift, oratory, political, human for good. You can lead, unite people, get out of a difficult situation. I would use another word. These are mercenaries. They work by orders coming from the West, of course, primarily from Washington. And of course, the role of the West is now, in my opinion, suicidal. From the point of view of the European West, it is suicidal. Washington sees some bonuses for itself, but to be honest, breaking the peace has always been part of their policy. They never propagated the establishment of peace as something positive, like some time ago. Therefore, what is happening now will, of course, have huge consequences for the world, for our planet in every sense of the word. When it comes to the role of the West, I again categorically insist, that the word constructive or destructive is not appropriate. Its role is devastating", she concluded.