MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/: Moscow and Washington are not negotiating or consulting on the Ukrainian issue, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with Channel One.
"There is no consultative negotiation process with the United States on Ukraine," he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories.
