Russia says it does not intend to change the Kyiv government

“The ongoing special military operation was just a response to Kyiv’s criminal steps towards these two republics (the pro-Russian separatists from Donetsk and Luhansk), and it is a timely and preventive measure,” Patrushev said during a meeting with his Algerian counterpart Noureddine Macri.

“Documents have been found showing evidence that Kyiv was preparing a large-scale attack and intending to destroy it,” Patrushev said, referring to information that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday called “false.”

“So the goal of our special operation in Ukraine is not regime change in Kyiv, as they are trying to introduce to the West, but the protection of the people from genocide and the disarmament and disarmament of Ukraine,” Patrushev added.

And so the Russian Security Council secretary repeated the Kremlin’s argument to justify what Moscow calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Patrushev, citing independently confirmed information, noted that earlier this year the Kyiv authorities “publicly refused to implement the Minsk agreements on a peace settlement in the Donbass, announced plans to produce nuclear weapons in the country, and also assembled a group of almost all armed forces. 100,000 soldiers with heavy weapons on the eastern border of Ukraine. “

Under the current conditions, Russia cannot stand idly by. According to its constitution, it was obligated to protect its pro-Russian citizens “in the self-declared republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, according to Patrushev.

“In our place, any country would do this,” justified the Secretary of the Russian Security Council.

In the early hours of February 24, Russia launched a military attack on Ukraine that killed at least 1,119 civilians, including 139 children, and wounded 1,790, including 200 children, according to the latest United Nations data, which warns of the possibility of this happening. The number of civilian casualties is much higher.

The international community in general condemned the Russian invasion, and responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and strengthening economic and political sanctions against Moscow.