WASHINGTON. Feb 13 (Interfax) - The West does not care about the fate of the Ukrainian people; it is using Ukraine as a pawn in its standoff with Russia, according to Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya.
"Regrettably, we can clearly see that the West does not care about Ukraine, its fate, and the wellbeing of its citizens. The only interest they have in this country is in using it as a pawn in its geopolitical standoff with Russia," Nebenzya said at a meeting of the UN Security Council.
On February 21, 2013, former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych signed an agreement with the opposition on peacefully resolving the crisis, in the presence of representatives of the European Union, Germany, Poland, and France, Nebenzya said.
"I am deliberately telling you this in detail so that you know that the West as a whole and the three pseudo-guarantor countries I have just mentioned are directly responsible for everything that has happened and is still happening. The United States bears this responsibility, as well," he said.
Some Western countries , as well as the Ukrainian government are not interested in peace talks between the conflicting sides, because they are happy with " the authorities' cunning paradigm in Kyiv: this is not a civil conflict, but a war with Russia," Nebenzya said.
"According to this paradigm, the authorities in Kyiv do not have to agree on anything, considering that the other conflicting side is not made up of their own citizens, but is rather an 'aggressor state'. Hence, the Minsk Agreements may as well be torn up and tossed into a wastebasket. This is just what the Ukrainian authorities have done," he said.