“This is not about Ukraine. It is the culmination of the course that the West has followed since the early 1990s, after it became clear that Russia would not be obedient and has its own opinion,” the foreign minister told the Leaders of Russia contest.
He stressed that the Eurasian nation and its people have their own history, traditions and their own vision of how to ensure their security and interests in the world.
In his speech, the head of Russian diplomacy stated that the assurances of the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, that he does not support neo-Nazis diverge from his actual actions.
“To great sorrow and shame, President Zelensky asks how he can be accused of being a Nazi when he is of Jewish origin, and he says this in the days when Ukraine is defiantly withdrawing from the agreement on the protection of monuments to the heroes of the Great Homeland War, within the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States”, he said.
It is very difficult for Lavrov to take the politics of the Ukrainian leadership seriously when his president personally sponsors such tendencies.
He expressed his hope that the military operation in Ukraine will end with the signing of comprehensive documents that include an agreement on the neutral status of that country with security guarantees.
He recalled that Moscow delivered its security proposals to the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), but the West did not react to the points regarding Ukraine and said organization.
“In this context, when the bombing already started, which clearly served as preparations for combat actions in Donbass, we had no other option to protect the Russian people in Ukraine,” he warned, referring to the Russian military operation.
Likewise, the head of Foreign Affairs described as “legitimate” the priorities raised by Moscow within the framework of the operation.
In a speech to inform about the start of the operation on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the objective is to protect the population of Donbass from the abuses and genocide of kyiv during the last eight years, in addition to to “demilitarize” and “denazify” Ukraine.
Later, he referred to the need for recognition of the reunification of Crimea with Russia by the Ukrainian authorities and the establishment of guarantees of military neutrality for that State.
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