Lavrov: “The West is eyeing Moldova for the role of the 'next Ukraine', Georgia is resisting”
Interview with Sergey Lavrov
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gave a long interview to the Rossiya 24 TV channel and RIA Novosti.
“The West is eyeing Moldova for the role of the ‘next Ukraine‘, but Georgia is resisting,” the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry said in an interview.
Talking about the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Lavrov noted that the borders of independent states will run along the borders of the union republics. “Karabakh was part of the Azerbaijan SSR,” he added.
Lavrov dwelled in detail on the topic of the war with Ukraine and the confrontation between Russia and the West.
About the war on Ukraine
On the subject of a possible end to the “special military operation”, Lavrov replied:
“Our task as diplomats, our military, who solve the most important task of ensuring our independence, our people – they probably do not think when this will end. They are driven by the desire to do their job clearly, quickly and minimizing losses. And the more actively we support them, the sooner the world will understand that this needs to end.
And this will end only if we observe the end of attempts by the West to assert their hegemony.”
Lavrov noted that at this stage Russia is pursuing “victory on the battlefield”:
“We all want this to end, but what matters here is not the time factor, but the quality of the results that we will provide for our people, for those people who want to remain part of Russian culture, and whom the Kyiv junta deprived of everything Russian for many years.
All those statements that made by his [Zelensky] fans and puppeteers, I see no way to regard them otherwise than as an attempt to ‘finally solve the Russian question’, i.e. Russia must receive a strategic defeat, so that it does not rise again for a long time.”
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On the confrontation between Russia and the West
“Ursula von der Leyen said that the outcome of the war should be the defeat of Russia, and such a defeat that it could not restore its economy for decades. What is this if not racism, not Nazism, not an attempt to “solve the Russian question”? Yes, not in the gas chambers. For now! So far there are many decent people in Germany who will not allow the revival of fascism, but there are also those who would not be against it at all,” Lavrov said.
According to him, Russia is now “in the midst of a geopolitical battle”:
“There is no need to doubt it. And those who solve practical problems at the forefront, they are doing the most important thing. They are heroes, and the feats they perform are also feats for the sake of the future of mankind, which will prevent the creation of conditions for complete US hegemony.”
Lavrov claims that “no one is trying to convince Kyiv to return to negotiations with Moscow, while Zelensky himself does not feel like an independent figure; he is being manipulated.”
“The Americans want to melt everyone down so that everyone is American. The [US] conviction in its own infallibility and superiority is the main reason why we are now confronting those countries that, through the Kyiv regime, are waging a hybrid war against us.
The United States and all Westernizers are great democrats, but they understand democracy as their right to impose an understanding of democracy on everyone else.”
Lavrov added that Putin “explained in detail the goals, causes and inevitability of the SVO (special military operation), did not do it suddenly, but after many years of explaining to the West that they are steering in the wrong direction and undermining everything that they have committed to fulfill.”
“The United States wants to nurture the Ukrainian regime so that it, under the license of the West, starts a war against the Russian Federation. The US is mobilizing the EU to give weapons to Ukraine, while ramping up its arms production and forcing Europe to buy from them,” he added.
“The ideas of the West about tribunals against Russia and reparations are a flagrant violation of international law,” Lavrov said.
About Moldova and Georgia
“Georgia was also considered in the West as a new “anti-Russia”, they wanted to return the country to the aggressive times of Saakashvili, but it didn’t work out.
Tbilisi, despite pressure from outside, is guided by national interests. The country’s prime minister, in response to unprecedented pressure, says that Georgia will be guided solely by national interests.
The West does not respect the neutrality of countries, and almost daily puts pressure on those who have not yet joined the anti-Russian sanctions.”
About the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan
The Russian Foreign Minister recalled that after a surge of violence in September last year, Yerevan turned to the CSTO:
“The secretary general of the organization went to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and brought a plan for deploying a mission on the territory of Armenia. But later, Armenian colleagues announced the need for a categorical condemnation of Azerbaijan’s actions.
Not everyone was ready for this. Not because they wanted to shield someone or not support them. The history of the Karabakh war goes back decades. For many years Armenia occupied seven regions of Azerbaijan. Russia offered numerous options for a diplomatic solution. But the Armenian leadership wanted to keep the territories. Azerbaijan got the lands that belonged to it back.
Now the parties have signed an agreement on their readiness to conclude a peace agreement on the basis of the 1991 Almaty Declaration. It states that the borders of independent states will run along the borders of the union republics. Karabakh was part of the Azerbaijan SSR.”
