Russia respects the territorial integrity of Ukraine, according to the 1991 Declaration of Independence, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

However, according to him, the key clause in the document for the Russian side was Ukraine’s refusal to join any military alliances.

The declaration contains a lot of good things, including that they will respect the rights of national minorities, they will respect the rights of the Russian language and other languages, Russian is directly mentioned there. Then all this was included in the Constitution of Ukraine,”—

Lavrov said at a press conference.

The minister also mentioned the Declaration of Principles on Relations between Sovereign States on the basis of the UN Charter, which also includes a clause on respect for the principle of self-determination of peoples.

We have no problems with the territorial integrity of Ukraine, it was destroyed by those who carried out and supported the coup, whose leaders declared war against their own people and began to bomb their own people,”

said the minister.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, proposing a “peace formula” for the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, indicated among the conditions the withdrawal of Russian troops and the restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine within the 1991 borders.

Russia rejected the proposed plan because, in particular, it does not recognize the annexed regions as Russian.