Moscow, Jan 23 (IANS): The Russian Foreign Ministry has criticised the US. Department of State for publishing a fact sheet full of false information about Russia's policy on Ukraine.

The Russian Ministry in a commentary on Saturday called the sheet "an overt provocation" by Washington to publish the "Fact vs. Fiction: Russian Disinformation on Ukraine" just a day before Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Geneva on Friday.

The Russian Foreign Ministry provided article-by-article refutation on the US fact sheet, saying that since December 15, 2021, when Moscow officially sent Washington its draft treaty and agreement on security guarantees, the US side has mostly made obvious attempts to drag out discussions at expert levels and in various formats, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, the US and its western allies have launched a "very toxic information and propaganda campaign" by depicting Russia as an "aggressor," an "enemy of civilised Europe" and a "threat" to the international stability, the Ministry said.

It also blasted the Western countries' "endless threats of painful sanctions against Russia that are designed to bleed our economy dry."

The Lavrov-Blinken negotiations in Geneva on Friday ended with no breakthroughs in the establishment of legally binding security guarantees between Russia and the West, with the Ukrainian crisis as a core issue.