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Anonymous ID: 8d1c4c Sept. 22, 2022, 12:10 p.m. No.17562371   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>2446

>http://thesaker.is/foreign-minister-sergey-lavrovs-interview-with-newsweek-september-21-2022/

>8705 Views | September 21, 2022 | 4 Comments

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with Newsweek, September 21, 2022

 

Question: Russia’s military operation in Ukraine continues, and many fear the conflict could go on indefinitely. Has Russia made progress toward its stated goals of “denazification” and “demilitarization” of Ukraine, and are the two sides anywhere closer toward a negotiated settlement than they were on February 24?

 

Sergey Lavrov: With its actions to nurture a Russophobic neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine, deploy military equipment and turn its territory into a springboard for containing Russia, the West left us no choice but to conduct a special military operation. Its goals are well-known: protection of the population of Donbass, elimination of threats to Russia’s security, demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine. All of them remain relevant and will be achieved, no matter how long it would take.

 

To date, the entire LPR, a significant part of the DPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions have been liberated. Peaceful life is taking shape in these territories. Despite the shelling and sabotage, repair and restoration works are underway at civilian infrastructure facilities and in the residential sector. New houses, schools, hospitals, cultural institutions are being built.

 

I would like to emphasize that the collective West, led by the United States, is openly seeking to defeat Russia “on the battlefield.” The United States and its allies are ready to sacrifice Ukraine for the sake of their geopolitical goals. To achieve them, they pump the country with weapons, and this leads to an escalated and prolonged conflict. It puts off the prospects of its settlement.

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Question: Syria has become the first country other than Russia to recognize the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics as independent states. Does Russia view these entities as nations with fixed borders, or would Russia support efforts to expand their sovereignty to include other territories in which Russian forces currently operate in Ukraine? Alternatively, would Russia support separate independence measures in these territories or even referendums to join the Russian Federation as was the case for Crimea in 2014?

 

Sergey Lavrov: The first state to recognize the independence of the DPR and of the LPR was not Russia, but South Ossetia. And after Russia, Abkhazia, Syria and North Korea also did this.

 

Russia recognized the independence of the Donbass republics within the borders specified in their constitutions. In fact, that means the administrative borders of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of the former Ukrainian SSR.

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Question: The mutual distrust that has emerged since the conflict began has led many to consider that the previous level of economic integration between Russia and the West may not be achieved for some time, if ever, even if the conflict were to be resolved. Is Russia prepared for this scenario in the long term and if so, what does that mean for Russia’s economic and geopolitical future? Might we see more investment in alternative frameworks such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization?

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Russia is not happy about it: what had been built by decades of hard work was destroyed virtually overnight. Well, we will draw our own conclusions from the behaviour of our Western colleagues – I do not think that in the foreseeable future they will be able to restore their credibility as business counterparts.

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Question: This year marks the 50th anniversary of your graduation from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and you’ve been involved in your country’s diplomacy ever since. Looking back at a half a century of experience, how would you evaluate the risk of confrontation between major powers today? Are the peoples of the world, including us as Americans and Russians, living through a particularly dangerous time?

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Today, Western states funnel weapons and military hardware into the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev, and train Ukraine’s armed forces. NATO, U.S. arms are used to fire at the Russian territory bordering Ukraine, killing civilians there. The Pentagon does not hide the fact of passing on to Kiev intelligence and target designations for strikes. We record the presence of American mercenaries and advisers “in the battlefield”. The United States, in fact, is teetering on the brink of turning into a party to conflict. This is to your question about the risk of a direct collision between nuclear powers.

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