Russia hopes that the current events in Ukraine will make the West change its policies. Otherwise, Russia, with its powerful military potential, will pose a similar threat to the decision-making centres in the USA and other NATO command structures, according to Russian ambassador to Egypt Georgy Borisenko. Borisenko told Daily News Egypt that the Ukraine crisis is very complex and first and foremost is connected with Russian national security. "If NATO had deployed its ballistic missiles in Ukrainian cities, which are close to our borders, it would have taken less than five minutes for them to reach Moscow and other major Russian cities. That is why we have proposed that Western states give us written guarantees of our security, but unfortunately our proposal was fully rejected," the Russian ambassador explained. He continued that in fact, NATO — led by Washington for several decades — has been violating the 'Founding Act on mutual relations, cooperation, and security' that was signed back in 1997. He added that the Ukrainian crisis is only a part of a more complex problem. "We are speaking about fighting with the fundamental threats which irresponsible western politicians have been creating for Russia consistently, rudely, and unceremoniously from year to year." "I mean the eastward expansion of NATO, which is moving its military infrastructure ever closer to the Russian border. Over the past 30 years, we have been patiently trying to come to an agreement with this military alliance regarding the principles of equal and invisible security in Europe. The response was resembling more of a cynical deception, constant attempts of pressure, blatant lies, or blackmail rather than a real, substantial, just, and argumentative answer worth the language of diplomacy," he explained. "Feeling its superiority, infallibility, and all-permissiveness, this North-Atlantic Alliance with its corrupt policy has led to many disasters all over the world, including the MENA region." Borisenko continued that in neighbouring Ukraine, it brought to "power a gang of Neo-Nazi apologists," who were not only doing their utmost to create a cultural and ideological gap between our fraternal peoples, but mocking the sacred memory of their ancestors, rewriting the history of the Ukrainian people, repressing the Russian-speaking population, and massively killing people in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics. "We can speak about the success of the operation once we achieve its main goals —the complete demilitarisation of Ukraine and its denazification. It will guarantee the national security of our country and our citizens," Borisenko stressed. Responding to Daily News Egypt's question on whether the ambassador thinks that the Ukraine situation will deteriorate to a third world war, Borisenko said: "Our ancestors won the Second World War, the worst war in the history of humankind. We know the bitter taste of victory. It cost our country over 26 million lives. We speak about heroes who sacrificed their lives representing the peoples of the whole USSR, including Ukraine." He added that, unfortunately, present Ukrainian authorities are trying to steal this memory from Ukrainian people, even rejecting their right to celebrate the Great Victory Day on 9 May. He stressed that Russia's answer is clear and that it does not want a third world war that will not have winners. Furthermore, he explained that nobody wants bloodshed, be it in the heart of Europe or in any other part of the world. "At the same time, as the Russian president said, whoever tries to hinder us or to create threats to our country, to our people, should know that Russia's response will be immediate. And it will lead to such consequences that they have never encountered in their history. We are ready for any developments to current events," he continued. Notably, major Western countries have reacted with outrage to Russia's intervention in Ukraine, accusing it of bringing war back to Europe. The G7 — the US, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, and Canada — vowed in a joint statement to bring forward severe and coordinated sanctions. In terms of the Western response to Russia's actions in Ukraine, Borisenko said that Russia has already gotten used to different unilateral restrictions imposed by the US and its allies, as Western countries have introduced more than 100 various sanctions since 2014. He continued that nowadays, the Russian economy — which has become even stronger due to those restrictions — is ready to face such pressures. "In fact, Washington and its European satellites are cutting off their own noses to spite their faces, because the sanctions will badly affect their own populations and cause significant economic losses," Borisenko said. He stressed that Russia fully relies on its close partners all over the world, including Egypt, who Russia is looking forward to strengthening relations with, explaining that for sure, those aggressive and unfriendly steps towards his country will be subject to countermeasures. Replying to Ukrainian Chargé d'Affaires in Cairo Ruslan Nechai's statements to Daily News Egypt, Borisenko said that it is not Russian diplomatic practice to answer in a rude way to "rude, unprofessional" words. "It is a pity that Ukrainian diplomats have to protect authorities that created a situation when their people became victims of corrupt policy inspired and conducted overseas," he said. "Our peoples are the same national entity. We share the same values, history, and culture. A lot of Russian citizens have families in Ukraine and vice-versa. We want Ukrainian colleagues to understand that instead of playing the role of NATO-puppets, they should preserve and respect the interests and historic memory of their own people and not create artificial lines of division between people."
Read the DNE interview with the Ukrainian Chargé d'affaires in Egypt.
