Russia will give proportionate response if Kyiv invades DPR, LPR – speaker of parliament – Russian Politics and Diplomacy

MOSCOW, February 16. /TASS/. Russia will not stand aside if Kyiv invades the territories of the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk (DPR and LPR) and will give a proportionate response, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said on Wednesday.

“The unrecognized republics are home to many thousands of Russian citizens. Obviously, we will not let them down in times of trouble, we will defend them. We will do whatever it takes to protect them. Naturally, our response will be proportionate to the ‘aggression,’ the speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament said in an interview with Russia’s Parlamentskaya Gazeta.

Speaking of moods in Russian society, she said Russians “don’t want war, whether it’s Ukraine or anybody else.”

In their own words, the Ukrainian people made their choice 30 years ago and Russia respects it. According to Matviyenko, only the Ukrainian people can decide “what they should do, how they should live, which parties and politicians should be responsible for deciding the future of the country”.

“Ukraine is clearly at a crossroads, there is no doubt about it. That is why it should be fully aware of the consequences that its next decision will entail,” the Russian senator said.

According to Matviyenko, real development of Ukraine would be impossible without strict implementation of the Minsk agreements.

“That would be the first step, the starting point. Otherwise, the country would be doomed to live in its current state: with the burden of confrontation with Russia, stricken by internal conflict, with weak state institutions that are unable to govern the country properly,” she added.

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