President Vladimir Putin told Western ambassadors that Russia remains committed to mutually beneficial cooperation, but wants a fair world order, reported Reuters, quoted by BTA.
Putin, who met with newly appointed ambassadors from many countries including Japan, Canada and Israel, said Russia was against "illegal" sanctions and restrictions.
Putin added that only those who do not know its history and do not understand the strength of its unity can build illusory calculations about defeating Russia, TASS reported.
"The essentially hostile course adopted by a number of Western countries to escalate and prolong the Ukrainian conflict in order to inflict a strategic defeat on our country is deeply wrong,”, he emphasized. "Such illusory calculations can only be made by those who do not know and do not want to know the history of Russia, do not take into account the unity, strength of spirit and cohesion of the Russian people," Putin noted.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained to national television the value of diplomacy with the participation of ambassadors from unfriendly countries in the ceremony of presenting Russian leader Vladimir Putin's credentials, TASS noted.
"We do not break our diplomatic relations, and perhaps that is the value of diplomacy," Peskov emphasized in a comment before the television. "The president just reiterated that Russia remains open to any contacts, to negotiations, even on the most difficult issues."
The Russian leader's spokesman drew attention to the fact that Russia was not the initiator of "reducing relations almost to zero" with a number of countries.
"But diplomatic channels remain open and this is actually the chance we have at hand all the time," Peskov concluded.