Moscow, Feb 5 (.) Russia is open to being neighbours with Ukraine, but only if it’s neutral and friendly, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Speaking to RT, Lavrov said, “It must be a friendly Ukraine – not necessarily allied with us, but neutral and benevolent. And this, of course, presupposes respect not only for the rights of the people living in the territory that will remain with Ukraine, not only respect for their access to the benefits of civilisation like heating, food, or water – but also respect for their fundamental human rights, including language, education, and religion.”
He added that it was absolutely unacceptable to “entrench” the Kyiv regime with any security guarantees while it maintains what Moscow alleges are Nazi-style laws which discriminate against the substantial minority of Russian speakers in the country.
“As for calls for a ceasefire, you know that hysteria has now erupted over claims that we are inhumanely cutting off electricity to cities, that people are suffering and freezing, and that Russia is striking energy facilities.
“We were never the first to start these actions. It was precisely the Ukrainians who were the first to strike our energy facilities and other civilian targets, including residential buildings, shops, and hospitals. A year ago, a passenger train was blown up – with no military component whatsoever,” Lavrov noted.
Calling the West’s demand for “security guarantees” in the event of a possible breach of agreements by Russia regarding Ukraine in the future, Lavrov mocked the response plan of the West, and termed it “absurd,” adding that until the root causes of the war were dealt with, nothing could be stated.
“This is absurd. But it is a very telling kind of absurd. What does it mean? For the past year, the West – Europe especially – kept saying one thing: we need reliable security guarantees – an immediate ceasefire and security guarantees.
“We asked them – if you are not solving the underlying issues, would not these guarantees just mean that any ceasefire gets used to pump more weapons into Ukraine? They did not hear that logic, did not respond to it at all,” the Russian FM said, adding that today all European politicians who viciously backed the rhetoric about defeating Russia have abandoned such rhetoric.
“Until recently, they spoke in unison, demanding firmness, insisting on unwavering support for Ukraine, continued arms shipments, sustained financing — all to ensure Russia’s defeat, a strategic defeat on the battlefield. Then they changed their tune. They realised it was all an illusion.”
Regarding the Kremlin’s tensions with Europe, he noted that Moscow currently has contacts with some European leaders, though they are currently confidential, he noted, remarking, “I will not hide it — we do have contacts with some European leaders. They call us and ask that these conversations not be made public.
“Some even show up here and communicate through back channels. But nothing they tell us about their ideas in these closed, confidential exchanges differs in any way from what they say publicly,” Lavrov said.
Currently, the most important thing is for the parties to reach an agreement, the minister added. . . .