Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (72) sees the US as the main culprit and at the same time the biggest beneficiary of the conflict in Ukraine.
The strategic goal of the United States and its allies in NATO is “victory over Russia on the battlefield” to weaken or even destroy Russia, Lavrov said in an interview with Russia’s state agency TASS on Tuesday. To achieve this, Moscow’s opponents are “willing to do a lot”.
“The main beneficiaries of this ‘burning conflict’ are the United States, which wants to take maximum advantage of it, both economically and in military-strategic terms,” Lavrov said. Washington is also pursuing another geopolitical goal: the destruction of Russia’s traditional ties with Europe.
Raid clash with Russian army ‘inevitable’
The Russian army invaded Ukraine on February 24 with orders to “denazify and demilitarize” the country, as Moscow put it. Because of this war of aggression, which has so far claimed thousands of lives, the US, the EU and some Western countries have imposed tough sanctions on Russia. Ukraine also receives military support in the form of arms and ammunition from the West.
From the 72-year-old’s point of view, the US is doing everything it can to exacerbate the conflict. Lavrov claimed that Kiev is being supplied with state-of-the-art weapons, which have not even been supplied to US western allies. The $40 billion in military aid granted this year alone exceeds the defense budgets of some European countries.
On the other hand, Kiev “is trying to pull the Americans and other NATO members deeper into the maelstrom of the conflict, hoping to make a hasty clash with the Russian army inevitable.”
Implicit use of nuclear weapons
The West is constantly speculating that Russia is about to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine, Lavrov criticized. “We are talking about completely different things here – the political course of the West, aimed at total restraint from Russia, is extremely dangerous. It carries the risk of a direct armed clash between the nuclear powers,” he claimed.
In fact, Russian President Vladimir Putin (70) was the first to hint at the possible use of nuclear weapons and bring up the nuclear threat.
An end to the conflict is possible, but depends on Kiev and Washington. As conditions, Lavrov mentioned demands for “denazification and demilitarization” of the areas controlled by Kiev, as well as security guarantees for Russia and its “new areas”. This refers to the regions in the south and east of Ukraine that have been occupied by Russia and annexed in violation of international law. Lavrov made no mention of Crimea, annexed in 2014.
Lavrov’s terms are at odds with Kiev’s demands for an end to the conflict. Kiev is demanding the complete withdrawal of all Russian troops from Ukraine, including Crimea, as a condition of negotiations. In addition, the Ukrainian leadership is demanding reparations from Moscow for the war damage.
“There will be no problems from our side”
In his all-out attack on all of Moscow’s “unfriends”, Lavrov also saw Russia’s relations with the EU at a “historic low”. In the end, following the example of the US and NATO, Brussels declared hybrid war on its country. “In fact, they (in Brussels) unquestioningly follow the anti-Russian course of overseas hegemony on all counts, sometimes even persistently.”
Therefore, there can be no “business as usual” with such opponents. In addition, Russia also has plenty of friends and like-minded people in other parts of the world. However, Lavrov also made it clear that Russia was ready to restore relations with the EU once the “Russophobic madness” there had passed, sobriety set in and governments began to focus on mutually beneficial partnerships. “There will be no problems from our side,” he said.
Lavrov saw Moscow’s relations with Washington in a “very deplorable state”. Normal relations between two nuclear powers would be desirable and useful. “However, given Washington’s openly hostile actions, it is not possible to continue as usual.” Therefore, the principle of “peaceful coexistence” from the Cold War era will be applied in Moscow’s further plans. (SDA/jmh)