Russian Ambassador to Pakistan Albert P. Khorev said Thursday that Moscow remained committed to finding a political and diplomatic settlement to the Ukraine crisis, while accusing Kyiv of previously halting the negotiating process.
Speaking on the situation in and around Ukraine at a news conference in Islamabad , the Russian envoy said Russia had initiated the resumption of negotiations last year and remained open to continuing the process, provided its national interests were taken into account.
“Last year, we initiated the resumption of the negotiating process that had been halted by Kiev, and we remain open to its continuation, provided that Russia’s national interests are taken into account,” Khorev told reporters at the embassy.
The ambassador also criticised the United States for what he described as a shift towards increasing sanctions pressure on Russia, saying Washington had assumed the role of mediator in efforts to resolve the conflict last year.
“This approach does nothing to advance crisis resolution,” he said.
Khorev also rejected what he described as growing concerns in Europe about potential Russian aggression against European Union and NATO countries.
He said Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had repeatedly stated that Moscow was not preparing for military action against Europe.
“We have neither such plans nor any grounds for them and, most importantly, no real motivation whatsoever to escalate the situation with Europe, regardless of what anyone may say,” the ambassador said.
Russian parliamentary elections
Referring to the State Duma elections held on September 20, Khorev said the electoral process had been successfully completed, with voter turnout exceeding 59 percent, which he described as a record high.
He said the elections were held amid what he called “enormous external pressure,” claiming that more than 3,000 distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks targeted Russia’s electronic voting infrastructure.
The ambassador further claimed that attacks attributed by Moscow to Ukraine damaged 74 buildings being used as polling stations across 10 Russian regions.
According to Khorev, more than 1,600 Ukrainian drones were also shot down over Russian territory during the election period, including around 450 drones while approaching Moscow.
The claims regarding the attacks, drones and damage to polling stations were presented by the Russian ambassador and were not independently verified in his remarks.
