‘Big Seven’: concerned about Russian troop recruitment near Ukraine and ready for dialogue with Moscow

Today, on Saturday, the foreign ministers of the G7 member states stressed their countries’ readiness for dialogue with Moscow, while expressing their concern over the escalating security tensions around Ukraine.

The statement made by the heads of diplomacy of the member states of the group (USA, France, England, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada) at the meeting held on the sidelines of the Security Conference held in Munich, Germany: “On the borders of Ukraine, in the illegally annexed Crimea and We are very concerned about the Russian military buildup that threatens the presence in Belarus.”

“The unjustified build-up of Russian military forces and their unprecedented deployment on the European continent since the Second World War poses a challenge to global security and order,” the ministers said.

And they added: “We express our intention to seek a peaceful and diplomatic solution to the current crisis and urge Russia to accept a proposal for strategic stability with the United States, a dialogue with Russia within the framework of a bilateral formula – NATO Council and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.”

The statement also affirmed the commitment of the member states of the group to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and that “each sovereign state has the right to determine its future and security mechanisms”. Foreign ministers supported the work carried out within the framework of the Normandy formula (Russia, Ukraine, France, Germany) for the implementation of the Minsk agreements for the settlement of the conflict in the Donbass region in the southeast of Ukraine.

The statement also noted that the group took into account the assurances of the member states that Russia was ready for joint diplomatic action, and that Russia and “European security, risk reduction, transparency, trust-building and disarmament.”

Source: Russian agencies