Ambassador Andrei Kelin’s interview to Mark Austin for Sky News, 21 June, 2023 (full version)

Watch Ambassador Andrei Kelin’s interview to Mark Austin for Sky News Main topics: - Root cause of Ukrainian conflict and reasons for the special military operation; - Ukraine’s stalling counteroffensive; - Destruction of the Kakhovka dam; - Western arms supplies; - UK involvement in the conflict; - Civilian casualties as a result of Ukraine’s shelling; - Diplomatic efforts of the international community but not the UK; - Prospects of peace talks; - False narrative of Russia being a threat to the UK; - Militaristic approach of the UK government. Ambassador Andrei Kelin: ▪ It is not our idea to destroy Ukraine. We are targeting command, control and communication centres to reduce Ukraine’s potential to create threats to Russia’s security. ▪ The damage done to civilian infrastructure is mostly the result of Ukraine positioning its weaponry, including air defence systems, in residential areas, therefore leading to the debris falling on the buildings. ▪ For the past year, Ukraine had been constantly shelling the Kakhovka dam, dealing very serious damage to it. Moreover, Ukraine itself admitted to having plans of destroying it. ▪ The Ukrainian counteroffensive is stalling, with no significant gains and 25-30 % of Western equipment already been destroyed. ▪ With regard to the illegally frozen Russian assets in the UK potentially used for “rebuilding” Ukraine, London is very experienced in theft and robbery of other countries. This is another attempt at it. ▪ Before speaking on civilian casualties of the conflict, it is necessary to look at its roots. Since the conflict started in 2014, there have been 12,000 civilian casualties in the Donbass. In the recent years, Ukrainian shelling led to 5,000 casualties there. Who is to apologize in the first place? ▪ The most important thing is to look at the roots and reasons of the Ukrainian conflict when it initially started in 2014. This would give you the whole picture of how to get out of it. ▪ Before speaking on Russian opposition members being prosecuted in accordance with Russian law for committing crimes in Russia, the UK ought to answer questions regarding its own actions against such figures as Julian Assange. ▪ There is always room for diplomacy, and we have seen efforts on peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict from African countries, Brazil, China and others. But not from the UK which is trying to lead in military efforts. We have not heard a diplomatic solution coming from the UK government. ▪ Russia is not a threat to the UK. We have a long history of productive cooperation. It was regretful to see the UK government take an adversary approach towards Russia at some point before for no reason. ▪ At the moment, the only problem we have in terms of Ukraine is the Ukrainian government which has taken a very hard anti-Russian position that is the root cause of today’s conflict. And we have to resolve this problem. ▪ The problem of rising extreme nationalism, which initiated from Western Ukraine, has now become the official line of the Ukrainian government. It has been actively supported by the West which is ready to blindly support anything anti-Russian. Eventually, this led to today’s conflict. ▪ Ukraine’s government, including Zelensky himself, has taken a Nazi-like approach of destroying everything Russian, all knowledge of Russia, and even Soviet monuments. How can we tolerate this? ▪ Russia is ready for talks. There are many voices in favour of talks, including in the West. But Zelensky himself has legislatively prohibited talks with Russia. ▪ The current UK leadership is continuing a militaristic line in terms of the situation around Ukraine. Not a word on negotiations. Not a word on inclusive European security for all countries, not just NATO members. #Kelin #RusEmbUK #Russia #UK #Ukraine #NATO