Moscow: 'West Can't Pretend It Wasn't Ideologist of Ukraine-Russian Confrontation'

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia tried to prevent the current development of events around Ukraine, but the West preferred not to notice this and now forgets about its own responsibility in the matter, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

The diplomat called the Russian operation a forced move, after all the negotiations, compromises, clarifications, and explanations failed.

"We tried to prevent this result for many years, not weeks, not months, using all the possibilities and all the tactics. But can they really sink to such a level that they do not take responsibility for their own complicity in the collapse of Ukraine", Zakharova told the YouTube show Soloviev Live.

Western countries cannot pretend that they are not involved in this, that they were not "the ideologists of the intra-Ukrainian confrontation and confrontation of Ukraine, primarily, with Russia", she added.

Commenting on anti-Russian sanctions, the diplomat said that it is difficult to judge how long-term the sanctions will turn out to be, noting everything can still return to normalcy.