After more than two years of fierce fighting in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday reaffirmed Moscow’s claimed right to rule its neighbor.
The future of western Ukraine is unclear at best, Lavrov told several Russian broadcasters in an interview in Moscow.
Otherwise, there will only be a Ukraine “that is truly Russian, that wants to be part of the Russian world, that wants to speak Russian and educate its children,” he said.
There was no alternative, said 74-year-old Lavrov, who has been Foreign Minister since 2004 and is a staunch supporter and confidante of President Vladimir Putin.
Russia does not want to attack NATO states, as claimed in the West to scare voters, Lavrov said.
“But if they want to push NATO’s borders to our borders, then of course we know how to prevent that in Ukraine.”
Like other senior members of the leadership, Lavrov said Russia was ready for talks with Ukraine, but only under specific conditions.
There would be no ceasefire during possible negotiations, talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are pointless and Kiev should abandon its peace formula, he said.
In the fall of 2022, Zelensky laid out ten points, including the withdrawal of Russian troops, reconstruction and reparations, and the prosecution of war criminals.
