Russia will not remain indifferent if Kiev attacks Donbass, says Russian official – Russian Politics & Diplomacy

MOSCOW, July 20./TASS/. The Ukrainian authorities are unable to pacify the radical forces in the country, and if Kiev attacks the Donbass, the population of the region risks being the victims of genocide. In this case, Moscow, like the entire world community, will not remain indifferent, said the deputy chief of the Russian presidential staff Dmitri Kozak in an interview with the French quarterly Politique Internationale.

When asked if Russia would stand up to protect the inhabitants of Donbass in the event of an attack on Kiev, he replied: “In this case, it is not excluded that we will see the situation take the signs of. genocide ”.

“Unfortunately, ultra-radical political groups remain in Ukraine and are ready for such actions. Until then, as we have seen recently, the actions of these groups cannot be countered by the Ukrainian state today.” , he stressed.

“It will be a tragedy if those who organize openly nationalist acts of violence in the streets of Kiev have reigned over the conflict zone,” Kozak said in the interview published on Tuesday on the website of the Russian Embassy in France. .

“It is obvious that neither Russia, nor the whole world community, will remain indifferent to this,” he noted.

In an April meeting with experts from the Institute of World Economy and International Relations at the Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kozak said Russia should protect its citizens living there if large-scale conflict was erupting in the region.