Oleksandr Lytvynenko: Ukraine is doing everything possible and even more for the peaceful conflict resolution, but we are clearly guided by the priorities of our national interests

The events, which began in 2014 and are ongoing until today, are not a spontaneous decision of Russia but the consequence of the policy, the basic principles of which were formulated in the early 90-s. This was stated by Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Lytvynenko during his speech at the meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Council Ukraine-NATO.

According to Mr. Lytvynenko, the principles of this policy were declared in the corresponding strategic documents of the early 1990-s. In particular, in the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation "The Strategic Course of the Russian Federation Towards the Member-States of the Commonwealth of Independent States" signed in September 1995 and in the public report of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia the task to restore the political, economic, cultural and military unity in the former territory of the Soviet Union was defined, and it was stressed that the federalization of some of the CIS countries is the key direction for this.

"The government bodies of the Russian Federation have worked hard on the coercion to unity of the states that emerged in the former territory of the Soviet Union, and created such a system that includes diplomatic, economic, energy, information and military levers", - Deputy Secretary of the NSDC said and added that the events, which took place in 2014, - "are not something new, but only the escalation of pressure, the continuation of the same policy but with the help of new methods".

Oleksandr Lytvynenko also expressed his confidence that the Russian policy of military aggression included the preparation of bridgeheads in the territory of other states, first of all, in Ukraine. Therefore, we can speak about the prolonged preparation for the annexation of the Crimea and aggression in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions" - he said.

The goals of the Russian Federation, to Mr. Lytvynenko's opinion, defined yet 15-20 years ago, lie in the establishment of absolute control over the policy of Ukraine, and those goals are unchanged. "The set of instruments is quite constant, but the ways to achieve these goals are changeable and flexible, that forms the impression of the absence of the Russian strategy. In reality, this strategy exists, but it is quite specific and consistent. Furthermore, it is completely based on Russian strategic culture", - Deputy Secretary of the NSDC underlined.

During his speech, he added that Russia's military instrument, which has been applied from February 2014, is not the key one in the set of measures, but it is quite powerful. "The core essence of Russian military actions is, first of all, the war of attrition of economic and, above all, political resources of Ukraine, the maintaining of a sufficiently high level of tension in the society and reducing the level of confidence in the government within the country", - he pointed out.

Oleksandr Lytvynenko also added that today in Ukraine the Russian military every day carry out 30-50 shellings on the delimitation line, boundary, in particular, today, 58 shellings in Donbas were recorded. "Moreover, in recent months, the tactics of Russian troops deployed in Donbass has been significantly improved", - he noticed.

Deputy Secretary of the NSDC specified that it was not about separatists but about the Russian troops - the first and the second army corps, which are included in the system of the southern military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. These corps are subordinate to the Center for territorial forces located in Novocherkask, Rostov region of the Russian Federation.

"I want to underline that regular Russian officers take the leading commanding positions in the first and second army corps. These corps are organized in accordance with the regulations and combat guidelines of the Russian army, obey Russian orders and act in strict conformity with the Russian military strategy. The tactics applied by these units is being constantly improved, which recently has led to a substantial increase in losses among the Ukrainian military", - Mr. Lytvynenko stated.