Lavrov: Russian Special Operation in Ukraine Aims to Put End to US Course for World Domination

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated on Monday that Moscow won't succumb to pressure from abroad, noting that the operation in Ukraine aims to put an end to America's plans for global domination.

"Our special military operation is designed to put an end to the reckless expansion and reckless course towards complete domination by the United States and, under them, the remainder of Western countries on the world stage. This domination is built with egregious violations of international law, and in accordance with some [unclear] rules, which are imposed on occasion", Lavrov said in an interview with the broadcaster Rossiya 24.

He also criticised EU top diplomat Josep Borrell for his latest statements, after the EU diplomat said that the crisis in Ukraine should be resolved via military means.

Borrell also urged the member states of the bloc to provide Kiev with the weapons it has asked for. Lavrov noted that after such claims, the rules have changed drastically, and added that Borrell had either got personal, slipped up, or even stated something he was not authorised to say.

"This is an utterly serious change, even in the policy that the EU and the West under US leadership - there is no doubt about it - began to pursue after the start of our special military operation. A policy that reflects anger, in some ways even frenzy, and which, of course, is determined not only by [the situation in] Ukraine, but by Ukraine being transformed into a foothold for the final suppression of Russia", the minister noted.

Military hardware is pictured in Bugas, Donetsk People's Republic. Tension began to escalate in Donbass on 17 February, with the Donetsk People's Republic and the Lugansk People's Republic reporting the most intense shellfire in months. Early on 24 February, Russia's President Putin announced his decision to launch a special military operation in response to requests from the leaders of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Lugansk People's Republic.

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He also said there is a possibility that Ukrainian troops, backed by Western intel services, will conduct new provocations, citing a recent incident in Donbass, when Kiev's forces tried to blame Russia for their own attack on the city of Kramatorsk, as well as infamous provocation in Bucha.

"The provocations, I think, are outrageous. As for Bucha, our military presented both chronological arguments, and arguments related to the video materials, and arguments related, excuse me for the details, to the position of the corpses and their appearance. Everything that is possible, was presented", he said.

Lavrov noted that after Russia showed the real data about the incident, the whole scandal was promptly swept under the rug.

"If Bucha continues to be played in some way for several weeks, then Kramatorsk was somehow silenced very quickly. Apparently, evidence presented right there, on the same day, including ballistic facts and a number of others, including the absence of Tochka U in our service", he said.

The situation remains tense in Ukraine, as Russian forces continue the special operation, launched in February in response to the mass shelling of Donbass. President Vladimir Putin stressed that the op was begun in order to stop the war against the people of Donbass waged by Kiev, which he called genocide. He also stressed that Russia's goal is the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine.