Russia’s Foreign Ministry named what it says was the cause of the escalation of the Ukraine crisis in 2022

What is happening in Ukraine could have been prevented back in 2021, when Russia presented the West with draft agreements on security guarantees.

This was stated by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko in an interview with Izvestia.

According to him, if Russia’s proposals had been implemented and taken seriously by Europe, it would have made it possible to avoid confrontation and the situation in Ukraine that later unfolded as a result of what he described as the West’s deliberate actions.

“NATO’s eastern flank is being saturated with new weapons systems. Groups are being stationed there on a permanent basis—no longer at battalion level, but brigade level—and headquarters are being created. Sweden and Finland have joined NATO. Our proposals, I remind you, also called for stopping NATO’s expansion eastward,” Grushko said.

Grushko has repeatedly warned that Europe is preparing for a military clash with Russia and that NATO exercises near Russia’s borders are becoming increasingly aggressive. He said Europe is following a path of escalation by supplying Ukraine with longer-range weapons, and that the risks of escalation in the Russia–Ukraine conflict are very high.