Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov believes that the only way to "exorcise evil spirits" from the Ukrainian government is force.
"Ultimately, only military force can drive this scum out of power", Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the "Kommersant" newspaper, describing the regime in Kiev as Nazi.
The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry recalled the events of previous years: "Victoria Nuland, who was responsible for Ukraine in the Barack Obama administration, stated in the Senate that they spent $5 billion and this gave results - a "friendly government" was created in Ukraine. "It quickly became clear that this was a Nazi government," Lavrov pointed out.
He said that "the first instinct of this government in February 2014 was to violate the agreement concluded literally the night before, guaranteed by the Germans and the French."
They refused to create a government of national unity, which was supposed to prepare early elections, and declared to the entire "Maidan": congratulations, we have created a "government of the victors" - the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry described his point of view on the course of events.
"The first instinct of these "putschists" who seized the presidential palace and administrative buildings in February 2014 was to announce that they would abolish the status of the Russian language. Therefore, the generic signs are fully known", Lavrov noted.
According to him, "all these processes have already acquired an irreversible character" in Ukraine.
Lavrov said that Russia understands the difference between a mutually beneficial deal with the US and another trap that could lead our country to dependence.
According to the minister, today, when Moscow is offered normal deals, this is perceived “in a good way“.
“We understand perfectly well what a mutually beneficial deal that we have never rejected looks like, and what a deal that could lead us into a new trap looks like“, said the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Russia cannot allow, when restoring relations in the economy and other areas, to again lead to dependence on which the country's well-being depends, the minister added, specifying that this applies to the military, technological and food security of the Russian Federation.
“This lesson, I am 100% convinced, will not be forgotten. It is not for nothing that President Putin, speaking at the height of the special military operation, said that we have learned our lessons and things will never be the same as they were before February 2022“, Lavrov said.
Russia's position on the Ukrainian settlement is based on the UN Charter and the results of the referendums, this is not some kind of request, the diplomat stressed.
“I will emphasize once again - our position is firmly based on the wording of the UN Charter, on numerous conventions and on the results of the referendums, the expression of the will of the people in the territories - first of all, we are talking about Donbass, Novorossiya. These are four regions that, after expressing the will of the people under international supervision, transparently decided to return to their great homeland, in this case the Russian Federation,“ said the head of Russian diplomacy.
Lavrov recalled that Putin had clearly outlined to the Foreign Ministry the principles “on the basis of which he determined a long-term, reliable, fair settlement“ in Ukraine. The minister noted that these conditions take into account, above all, the interests of the people and fully guarantee the rights of national minorities.
In discussions with the West on plans for a Ukrainian settlement, Russia insists on checking the “purity” of Kiev, continued Moscow's first diplomat.
„Verifying the integrity of our Ukrainian neighbors is what we insist on when discussing with the West any schemes that they promote, wanting to somehow facilitate regulation“, the minister noted.“All these peacekeeping schemes that Macron and Starmer are drawing up are based on the fact that this is necessary in order to preserve at least a piece of land on which the Nazi, frankly Russophobic regime will remain, exiled for the next preparation of a new war against Russia, as was done with the Minsk agreements“, Lavrov said.“According to him, Europe will do everything to ensure that the regime in Kiev does not change in essence. “Nobody even mentions elections”, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry noted. “However, now the Americans have said that elections should be held. But Europe will do everything to ensure that the regime does not fundamentally change."
According to him, European leaders may be looking for “some new demi-fuhrer who will be less dependent on various substances“.
“The key components of the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis are not easy to agree on“, Lavrov said.
According to him, the agreement can only be concluded if the root causes of the Ukrainian conflict are eliminated.
“Finally, reasonable people have appeared in the US administration after Biden's protégés left or were thrown out,” Lavrov added.
Russia will not offer anything to anyone under the expiring Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), and no bilateral initiatives have been received from the administration of US President Donald Trump, Lavrov said.
“Donald Trump's administration has proposed a trilateral sit-down meeting with China on this issue. They are not offering us anything. We will not offer anything to anyone either. Because it was not we who destroyed the arms control instruments, the START-3 Treaty“, Lavrov said.
"The Joe Biden administration has abandoned the basic principles without which this could not have been achieved. The Trump administration has not yet returned to these principles, although the dialogue on many issues continues."
"We are self-sufficient. We have everything. We know how to ensure our defense capability", the minister noted. “If they have the feeling that their nuclear arsenals are very outdated and continue to become outdated against the background of our modernized weapons, then they are probably interested in somehow correcting this discrepancy. We have not received such proposals.“
According to him, the last time former US President Biden "asked to inspect" nuclear facilities, which were then targeted by Ukrainian drones of American production.
"The Trump administration stated that it was interested in discussing strategic relations between the US, Russia and China. China is not interested in this. We have not received any bilateral proposals", the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry noted. “If we do this, we will, of course, explain how we see truly equal talks, negotiations on how to ensure strategic stability. But we are far from that. We are not in a hurry with requests, we have not violated the process in any of its components“
"Putin has repeatedly said that we do not want to be forced. If you don't like talking to us, then we will behave accordingly and draw our own conclusions," Lavrov noted. "If you want to approach us, explain what you are proposing and we will see whether it suits us or not.
The minister recalled the words of the Russian president that "we will never again participate in an arms race." "We have our own policy and know how to ensure the defense capability of our state if the strategic situation in the world does not change," Lavrov noted. "Despite the normalization of relations with the Americans, no one stops declaring us an adversary in the doctrinal documents of the United States and NATO, and state officials also call us an enemy. This does not stop."
The Trump administration admitted that the Biden team's decision not to talk to Russia about the contradictions between the two countries was idiotic, Lavrov said.
„People came and told us: „We have many problems, many contradictions, but this is idiocy inherited from the previous administration - let's not talk to you“, the minister noted.
He stressed that Russia and the United States, as responsible international players, must do everything to ensure that differences in national interests "do not degenerate into confrontation".
The Russian Federation does not want the sanctions imposed against it to be lifted, Lavrov said.
According to him, trade relations between Russia and the United States are blocked by 95% of illegal sanctions.
"There is no longer any globalization of the world economy. It was destroyed not by Trump, but by Biden, when he introduced sanctions and made sanctions the only instrument of his foreign policy," the Russian Foreign Minister said.