The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, considers that the war against Ukraine has served to unite citizens. “The special military operation [el nombre oficial del Kremlin para una invasión que se encamina a su tercer año] “It has united our population to an unprecedented degree and has contributed to cleansing it of people who did not feel involved in the history and culture of Russia,” said the head of diplomacy when taking stock of the nation’s geopolitical situation. . The Russian minister wanted to highlight three messages. First of all, he believes it is impossible to dialogue with the United States today. Furthermore, he ventures that Moscow will not give up its objectives in Ukraine and he believes it is unfair for Israel to classify the killings of civilians in Ukraine as war crimes while downplaying its offensive in Gaza.
The head of Russian diplomacy has cited the Soviet writer Mikhail Zhvanetsky to explain the supposed benefits for Moscow of the war in Ukraine, which has already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. “Our people need a great war to truly unite. It even seems funny, but in every joke there is some truth,” Lavrov stressed to the press, the same day that Moscow summoned the French ambassador after stating that his forces had killed French mercenaries in Ukraine.
Lavrov has justified the invasion of Ukraine for two reasons: his accession negotiations with NATO, which the Atlantic Alliance still resists, and his distancing from Russia. “(Moscow) did not tolerate the Kiev regime attacking everything Russian: the language, education, culture of people who have lived for centuries in the territories developed by their great-grandfathers and great-great-grandfathers, and which have always been Russian soil, part of the Russian world,” the president emphasized, after highlighting that the defense of what he considers the “Russian world” outside its borders is an inalienable national interest.
The Foreign Minister has positively assessed the impact of the war on the population in view of the presidential elections to be held between March 14 and 17. In the case of the Ukrainian elections suspended this year, Lavrov has stated: “The West strongly recommends [Volodímir] Zelensky to hold the elections because he hopes that the electoral campaign and the vote will attract him to the current that defends Western interests, because [Zelenski] “It’s getting further and further away.”
The Foreign Minister has avoided commenting on the US electoral race and its possible impact on military and financial support for Ukraine, and although he maintains that Moscow agrees to negotiate, he refuses to make any concessions. “Russia will achieve its goals. There is no hope that Russia will be defeated,” Lavrov threatened.
Dialogue with the United States
The head of Russian diplomacy in the last three decades has also asserted that “today there is no basis for dialogue with the United States” about the principle of strategic stability between both powers. “They do not hide their intentions (…) not to include non-nuclear forces in the debate,” he stated, which “consolidates the important quantitative advantage of the West as a whole.”
Lavrov has also stated that the Kremlin has never threatened the use of nuclear weapons, despite the fact that in the last year it has deployed this arsenal in Belarus, it has suspended two key treaties (one on its control and another on the veto on testing). of weapons of mass destruction) and the Russian leader himself has stressed several times that he reserves the right to use “any means” in defense of his interests.
“Everyone says that Putin threatens with a nuclear bomb, although he has never said it, unlike the Europeans and the Americans,” Lavrov noted before stating that “the Germans said that NATO also has nuclear weapons and the former “The British Prime Minister said he would not hesitate to press the button.” “We are not afraid,” he added.
The break with the West has translated into an effort by the Kremlin to attract Asia, Africa and Latin America to its cause. “Relations between the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China are going through the best period in their centuries-old history,” said the diplomat. Although he has clarified that both powers are only partners, their ties are “stronger than during the military alliance they maintained during the Cold War.”
In its search for allies, Moscow has ended up leaning towards Iran, its main weapons supplier along with China and North Korea, to the detriment of Israel. Lavrov has taken advantage of this occasion to criticize Netanyahu’s Executive. “In our special military operation there have not been as many civilian victims in two years as there were in these three months [en Gaza]”, compared the Russian Foreign Minister, although in both Palestinian and Ukrainian territory it will still take a long time to know the magnitude of the massacre of civilians.
The Russian Foreign Minister has also emphasized that the expansion of the BRICS agreed in 2023 implies another step “towards a multipolar world.” However, the resignation of the Argentine Government of Javier Milei to join the group a few months after the previous Executive promised its incorporation has meant a splash of cold water on the group of emerging countries. “It is not a negative, they are not prepared now, or that is how we take it,” Lavrov said. “When the President’s Government [Javier] Milei is settled, they will make a final decision,” he concluded.
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