Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance, which consists of the United States (US) and its allies, does not want the war between his country and Ukraine to end peacefully.
In an interview with International Affairs, published on the Russian Foreign Ministry website, Lavrov said the US has no intention of ending the conflict and has an official goal of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia.
“(This) is to weaken us as much as possible militarily, economically and politically. Washington continues to insist that a settlement can only be negotiated on Ukraine’s terms, meaning (President Volodymyr) Zelensky’s notorious peace formula,” Lavrov said, quoted Monday (21) /8/2023).
Lavrov also reminded that in December 2021, his country had made drastic efforts to convey Russia’s concerns to Western capitals by submitting two draft agreements, namely on security guarantees with the US and security measures with NATO member countries.
“However, our initiative was arrogantly rejected. Instead of negotiating, they directed all their efforts to increasing production of arms and ammunition for Ukraine, which fueled a further escalation of regional tensions,” Lavrov explained.
According to Lavrov, the US position is a useless ultimatum.
“It is unreasonable to demand that we agree to solutions that are detrimental to our fundamental security interests and open the door to further unlawful treatment of ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking people in new territories and areas controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” he said.
Lavrov also called Russia’s approach consistent and transparent, in which it always said it was ready for meaningful dialogue.
“As you know, from the first day of the special military operation, Russia was open to discussing how to achieve its goals and objectives through political and diplomatic means. We immediately responded to Ukraine’s proposal to start talks and we took part in them until the Ukrainian side interrupted them in April 2022 at the request of the West,” he said.
“Later, on September 30, 2022, Volodymyr Zelensky signed an executive order that ruled out any negotiations with the Russian leadership. Therefore, it is Kyiv, being manipulated by its outside patrons, that is sabotaging diplomatic efforts.”
Sabotage of diplomatic efforts includes holding multilateral meetings, including in Copenhagen or Jeddah, to find a peaceful solution to the Russo-Ukrainian war without Moscow being represented.
“(This was held) in the hope of convincing developing countries to support Zelensky’s peace formula. At the same time, Moscow was accused of being reluctant to negotiate, while any arguments about the need to take into account the vital interests of our country were immediately rejected. It is clear that such an approach hardly indicates Western intent to negotiate with Russia.”
Russia’s Patience Test in Nuclear Weapon Possession
On the other hand, Lavrov said that possession of nuclear weapons protects Russia from security threats and Moscow continues to remind Western countries of the risks of preventing a conflict of nuclear powers.
“Today’s possession of nuclear weapons is the only possible response to some significant external threat to the security of our country,” Lavrov said.
Last month, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow must use nuclear weapons if Ukraine’s retaliatory strike against Russian troops is to succeed.
The West is providing arms to Ukraine as it tries to reclaim territory Russia has unilaterally annexed since it invaded its neighbor in February 2022.
Lavrov said that the US and its NATO allies risk ending up in a situation of direct armed confrontation from nuclear powers.
“We believe that such developments must be prevented. That is why we must warn of the high military and political risks and send a serious signal to our opponents,” Lavrov said.
US President Joe Biden previously called Russia’s threat of using real tactical nuclear weapons while NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance had not detected any changes to Russia’s nuclear forces.
Source : CNBC
