Don’t Want To Divide Ukraine; NATO Expansion Threat To Russia: Kremlin Spokesperson Peskov

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Russia does not intend to divide Ukraine into two parts. Peskov while speaking to news agency Sky Arabia said Russia’s primary aim is to ‘de-Nazify’ Ukraine.

“We want to achieve our goals, the first of which is a demilitarised Ukraine. We want to have constitutional guarantees of a neutral status for Ukraine,” Peskov said. Peskov further added that Russia is ready for a diplomatic solution and is looking forward to speaking to Ukrainian leadership for the third round of discussions.

Peskov also highlighted that the NATO expansion to Russia’s doorsteps is a red line for Russia. “We want to see that the neutral status of Ukraine is fixed in its constitution and we want to have guarantees that weapons being able to change the security balance in Europe cannot be deployed to Ukraine,” Peskov said.

Russia before beginning its so-called ‘military operation’ in Ukraine said that it will not accept Ukraine joining NATO and also demanded that NATO withdraw from nations which were part of erstwhile Soviet Union.

The Kremlin spokesperson said that the expansion of NATO threatened Russia. He said that the NATO expansion and its bid to include Ukraine was a ‘violation of the Russian red lines.’

Peskov said that Russia wants to ensure its own security.

He also spoke about the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and said that there was provocation from Ukrainian nationalists and Russia prevented them and also prevented any damage to the nuclear reactors in the plant.

“The nuclear reactor, the heart of the station, was never touched. There was a provocation by Ukrainian nationalists, a group of fighters, they attacked a patrol, Russian troops, so the Russian patrol had to respond,” Peskov said.

He said that there are currently no threats and the situation is under control.

Fears of nuclear catastrophe arose after bombing caused fire outside the perimeter of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant on Friday. The fire was put out by firefighters. The radiation levels from the plant was normal, easing fears around the region regarding a nuclear fallout with some even afraid it could be larger than the Chernobyl nuclear accident.

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