Russia’s Foreign Minister imagines a condition for Ukraine’s right to exist
Photo: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (Getty Images)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made another cynical statement regarding Ukraine, saying that Ukraine “has the right to exist” if it “let people go,” according to his interview with NBC News.
Among other things, Lavrov questioned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement that “the Russian and Ukrainian peoples to be one people. In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours,” implying that he personally considered it false.
“This is not true. Ukraine has the right to exist, provided it must ‘let people go,’” the Russian Foreign Minister said.
At the same time, Lavrov again mentioned the pseudo-referendums that were held under Russian control in temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories. He claimed that these territories supposedly “decided” they belonged to Russia.
However, the Russian Foreign Minister had to justify himself after being directly asked whether he knew that most people in the occupied territories did not want the Russian invasion. In response, he referred to democracy, claiming that people had supposedly voted and expressed their opinion.
After this, a journalist asked him directly whether Russia had invaded Ukraine. Lavrov again tried to evade the question, calling it a “special military operation to defend the people” and accusing the journalist of wanting to “something to sell today.”
“I understand that you need something to sell today. But if you are raising and touching upon so serious topics, my suggestion is to take a look at the history of Ukrainian development after the coup in 2014. I have the materials,” the Russian Foreign Minister said irritably.
Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance said that the Russians had to concede on some of their demands. In particular, the Kremlin had to acknowledge that Russia would not be able to establish a “puppet regime” in Kyiv, and that Ukraine would retain its territorial integrity after the war.
At the same time, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry believes that Ukraine, the US, and European partners are gradually making progress on security guarantees, despite Moscow’s attempts to derail the peace process. At the same time, the Kremlin leader is not ready for a meeting. For example, Russia continues to set additional conditions supposedly required for a meeting.
