FM links shooting of Russian general to Ukraine's efforts to disrupt negotiations

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on February 6 that the assassination attempt on a senior Russian military official was intended to derail negotiations, following talks with senior officials from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Speaking after meetings with the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, and OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu, Lavrov argued that the incident demonstrated what he described as the Ukrainian leadership’s strategy of engaging in provocations to undermine the negotiation process, Caliber.Az reports via Russian media. 

"This terrorist act has once again confirmed the determination of [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy's regime to engage in constant provocations aimed at disrupting the negotiation process, and of a regime that is prepared to do anything to convince its Western sponsors not to lag behind the United States in their desire to derail the process of achieving a just settlement," Lavrov said.

He said such actions were aimed at persuading Western backers to intensify efforts to block a just settlement. Lavrov declined to speculate on the future of negotiations, saying decisions on that matter rested with Russia’s leadership.

The comments followed an attempted assassination of Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev, first deputy chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

According to officials in Moscow, Alekseyev was shot several times in the back by an unknown assailant inside a residential building on February 6 and was subsequently hospitalised. The Investigative Committee of Russia said it had opened a criminal case on charges of attempted murder and illegal possession of firearms, and police are continuing to search for the suspect.

By Sabina Mammadli