OREANDA-NEWS. On Thursday, January 20, First Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Lower House of Parliament Aleksey Chepa commented on the statement of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who suggested that Russia evaluate the benefits of cooperation with the West and admit that it is impossible to resolve the conflict in Ukraine by force.

Scholz also announced Germany's readiness to defend Ukraine from "Russian aggression." According to him, quoted by Bloomberg the day before, Russia should recognize that “right makes might”. At the same time, the German leader indicated that he was not yet ready to assess whether diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict would bring results. However, he recalled Germany's efforts to maintain a dialogue with Russia in various international formats.

The Russian parliamentarian, in turn, noted that the only acceptable way to resolve the conflict in Ukraine today is the implementation of the Minsk agreements by its parties.

“The West, instead of putting pressure on Kiev, arranges hysteria regarding the “Russian threats” and Russia’s “invasion” of the territory of Ukraine,” he said in an interview with Duma TV.

According to him, Moscow has long been calling on the West to influence Kiev on this issue, but all calls are being ignored. Chepa also reminded that Russia is not a party to the conflict in the south-east of Ukraine.

On January 18, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met in Moscow with his German counterpart Annalena Burbock. Following the talks, the ministers reaffirmed their readiness for dialogue and the search for solutions to the accumulated bilateral problems.

At the same time, Burbock said that Germany cannot but consider the concentration of more than 100 thousand Russian troops on the border with Ukraine "as a threat." She also stressed that Russia's use of energy as a "weapon" would have consequences for the Nord Stream 2 project. Burbock noted the existence of contradictions, but stressed that there is no alternative to stable ties between Moscow and Berlin.