The West is unwilling to stop the conflict in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters after talks with Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian on Wednesday.
Lavrov said “The last such tirade came from our colleague, Mr. [US Secretary of State Anthony] Blinken,” who said earlier this week that a possible truce in Ukraine currently would be in the interests of Russia and that this cannot be allowed.
“It is difficult for me to say what such a superficial, frankly speaking, analysis is based on. The only assumption is that the West does not want to stop this war, and that it sees its geopolitical interests in this war, primarily in terms of its attempts to eliminate another competitor on the world stage in the person of Russia,” Lavrov pointed out.
He also said that NATO is in fact “fighting on the side of the Kiev regime,” and is involved in the Ukrainian conflict to its full extent.
"Once again, we drew attention to the subversive line of NATO countries, which have been involved into the conflict for a long time and continue to be drawn into it deeper and deeper (to the maximum, in my opinion),” according to the top Russian diplomat.
Amirabdollahian, for his part, pointed out that Western supplies of various weapons to Kiev complicate the Ukraine conflict, which he said should only be settled via political means.
"The fact that the West is arming Ukraine with various weapons, we believe, complicates the situation. We have always believed that it is necessary to rely on a political settlement of this issue," the Iranian foreign minister underlined.
Western countries have been supplying Ukraine with various types of weapons systems, including air defense missiles, multiple launch rocket systems, tanks, self-propelled artillery and anti-aircraft guns since the beginning of the ongoing Russian special military operation. Moscow has repeatedly warned that these arms deliveries do not contribute to a peaceful settlement and further escalate the Ukraine conflict, making NATO a full party to the conflict.