Restoring peace is not part of Ukraine’s plan, while its Western patrons continue “playing with fire,” oblivious of the dangerous consequences, stressed Sergey Lavrov in the interview for Newsweek.
“Zelensky has not revoked his decree banning negotiations with Moscow. Washington and its NATO allies provide political, military and financial support to Kiev so that the war would go on. They are discussing authorizing the AFU to use Western long-range missiles to strike deep into Russian territory,” Lavrov explained.
Russia’s top diplomat emphasized that the February 2014 agreement was ripped up by the US-backed opposition, then the Minsk accords were sabotaged and subsequently revealed to have never been fulfilled by Ukraine’s patrons, and finally the 2022 Istanbul agreements were “not signed by Zelensky at the insistence of his Western supervisors, in particular, the then British prime minister [Boris Johnson].”
Lavrov reiterated the prerequisites for a settlement listed by Russian President Vladimir Putin:
complete withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the DPR, LPR, and Zaporozhye and Kherson regions
recognition of territorial realities as enshrined in the Russian constitution
neutral, non-bloc, non-nuclear status for Ukraine; its demilitarization and de-Nazification
securing the rights, freedoms, and interests of Russian-speaking citizens
removal of all sanctions against Russia.
Since Ukraine’s Western patrons seek to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia, “we have no choice but to continue our special military operation until the threats posed by Ukraine are removed,” Lavrov stressed, adding that Russia “will take adequate decisions based on [its] understanding of the threats posed by the West.”
As West Seeks Dominance, UN Charter’s Peace Ideals Remain ‘Dead Letter’
Russia believes all states, including the US, “should comply with their obligations on an equal basis with others rather than disguise their legal nihilism with mantras of their exceptionality,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov underscored in his interview.
“As long as the West continues seeking dominance, the ideals of peace set forth in the Charter of the United Nations will remain a dead letter,” he said, adding that the UN should remain “a forum for aligning the interests of all the countries.”
“Here we are supported by the majority of countries, which see how international law is violated with complete impunity in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, just the way it had earlier been violated in Kosovo, Iraq, Libya and many other places,” the Russian FM said.
Weighing in on the ongoing shift towards a multipolar world order, Lavrov described it as “a natural part of power rebalancing, which reflects objective changes in the world economy, finance and geopolitics,” noting that the West “has also started to realize that this process is irreversible.”
New centers of decision-making are gaining strength in the Global South and East, with regional associations such as BRICS, the SCO, Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), African Union, Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), and others, which “support mutually beneficial cooperation and respect for each other's interests,” Lavrov emphasized.
Weighing in on the potential outcome of the 2024 US presidential election, Lavrov noted that both the Democrats and Republicans “have reached a consensus as to countering Russia.” The Russian FM advised any future White House resident “to mind their domestic business, rather than look for adventures tens of thousands of miles away from American coasts.”
“At all events, we will promote Russia's interests decisively, especially as far as its national security is concerned,” Lavrov said.