Doha: The Russian Foreign Ministry warned that a ceasefire in Ukraine without addressing the root causes of the conflict could lead to dire consequences, including negative impacts on Russian-US relations. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Sputnik that Russia had not yet reached a major understanding with the US, despite the US' desire to move towards a ceasefire soon.

According to Qatar News Agency, Ryabkov stressed that stopping the fighting without a long-term settlement would lead to a renewal of the conflict with more serious consequences, and referred to the need to address the real causes behind the Ukrainian crisis. Ryabkov explained that the roots of the conflict are embodied in the unrestrained expansion of NATO, the rise of a government in Kyiv through a coup, in addition to the disregard of the Minsk agreements by western countries. He stressed that any long-term solution must include guarantees against NATO expansion, and the protection of the rights of Russian speakers in Ukraine, which he said had been subjected to violations.

The remarks came after high-level Russian-US talks in Riyadh last week, where Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that the two sides had agreed to create conditions for the resumption of cooperation between Moscow and Washington, and to remove obstacles to the work of the two countries' embassies. It was also agreed to establish working groups to discuss ways to resolve the Ukrainian crisis quickly.