Ukraine crisis: UK foreign minister holds meeting with Russian counterpart

 Britain's Foreign Minister Liz Truss, who arrived in Russia to discuss easing the Ukraine crisis and insisting on adopting a diplomatic route, held a meeting with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Thursday. Russia has started military exercises in the region with the deployment of more than 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border. However, Russia says it has no plans to attack its neighbour.

Liz once again warned Russia that attacking neighboring Ukraine would have dire consequences and a heavy price. He urged Russia to abide by its international agreement's commitment to respect the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine.

 

Lavrov, who took a tough stand during the meeting, also bluntly said that Western countries should not preach to Moscow. Lavrov said, the path of ideological approach and final warning cannot be moved forward. After the meeting, the British Foreign Minister once again called for Russia to send its troops back to military bases. However, Lavrov rejected this demand as unreasonable and pointed fingers at British and NATO troops stationed in Eastern Europe.

Lavrov said the demand to withdraw Russian troops from Russian territory is regrettable. We don't want to threaten anyone, rather we are facing danger ourselves. He accused Western leaders of creating a ruckus over the Ukraine issue to gain political mileage in his country.