Vice-President of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, today assured that his country’s military operation would continue until full demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine was achieved.
The goals of the operation also include the status of Ukraine as a neutral state that “does not have anti-Russian policies, is not a militaristic state and is a normal neighbor,” said the former president of that country.
In an interview with the Sputnik news agency and RT TV channel, the Russian official emphasized that Moscow has exhausted diplomatic channels to achieve these goals and has no other alternative than a military operation.
In response to another question, Medvedev said that the West, with its sanctions, is trying to incite the Russians against their power, but what he believes they have achieved is to consolidate the people.
“Such restrictions, deprivations only bring people together, strengthen people and do not divide them. And that’s their main miscalculation, that’s the weak point of these stupid sanctions,” he said.
According to the leader of the United Russia party, the governments of these nations are trying to influence the country’s citizens, “putting them against the political course of the state leadership, against the course of the president”, and trying to create problems for the authorities.
“It seems to me that the people who make these decisions absolutely don’t understand our mentality, don’t understand the worldview of a Russian in the broadest sense,” he explained. He added that if these sanctions hit every single Russian, “society will be consolidated,” he said.
Russia began a military operation in Ukraine on February 24 after the authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics requested help to repel mounting aggression from Kyiv.
Previously, Moscow had recognized the independence and sovereignty of both territories and signed treaties of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance with their leaders, which included the establishment of diplomatic relations and military assistance.
In an informational speech about the start of the operation, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that its goal is to protect the people of Donbass from the abuses and genocide in Kyiv over the past eight years, in addition to “demilitarization” and ” Denazification”. Ukraine.
Immediately, the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and European Union countries imposed new sanctions targeting key sectors of the national economy, trade, finance, energy, exports, and aerospace.
Since mid-February, more than 4,350 new restrictive measures have been activated in relation to Russia, in addition to the more than 2,750 that were already in place.
The restrictions included the partial disconnection of Russian banks from the Swift international payments system, the closure of airspace to their airlines, the freeze of the Central Bank of Russia’s international reserves, and the embargo on oil purchases by the United States and other nations.