In an interview with Tucker Carlson, the head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, explained what exactly the Russian Federation wanted to show by launching Oreshnik in Ukraine and announced the possibility of cooperation between Moscow and Washington.
Russia's longtime foreign minister describes the war with the United States and how to end it.
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(12:56) Russia's Message to the West Through Hypersonic Weapons
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(23:18) How Many… pic.twitter.com/0UkkNjAkhw— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) December 5, 2024
Russia will use all means to prevent defeat in the war with Ukraine, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview in English with American journalist Tucker Carlson, published on social network X late on Thursday evening, December 5. RTVI publication represents main points of the conversation.
The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow is ready for any development of events around Ukrainebut prefers a peaceful settlement taking into account security interests:
“We prefer a peaceful settlement through negotiations based on respect for the legitimate security interests of Russia, respect for the Russian people living in Ukraine, their basic rights, linguistic and religious rights, destroyed by a number of laws passed by the Ukrainian parliament.”
He recalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that Moscow “launched a special military operation to put an end to the war that the Kiev regime waged against its people in the Donbass.” According to him, the conflict in Ukraine can be resolved peacefully only if Kyiv refuses to join NATO, the closure of Western military bases in the country and the cancellation of exercises involving foreign military personnel.
In addition, Lavrov believes that the conflict must be resolved on the basis of the UN Charter, but in its entirety:
“It is curious that in the West they say that they want this conflict to be resolved on the basis of the UN Charter and respect for the territorial integrity of Ukraine, and Russia, they say, should “leave.”
According to Lavrov, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said similar things, and his spokesman recently reiterated that the conflict should be resolved on the basis of the UN Charter, international law and General Assembly resolutions while respecting the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Lavrov called this approach incorrect.
“If you want to respect the UN Charter, you must respect it in its entirety”.
About the blow with the Hazel Tree. Lavrov believes that ideas in the West that Moscow's “red lines” can shift represent a very serious mistake:
“If they [на Западе] follow the logic that some Westerners have been voicing lately, that, they say, don’t believe that Russia has “red lines,” yes, they announced them, but these “red lines” are moving again, then this is a very serious mistake.”
According to him, the strike by the latest Russian medium-range ballistic missile Oreshnik showed that Russia is ready to use any means to prevent the West from achieving its “strategic defeat”:
“The message that we wanted to convey by testing this hypersonic system in real conditions is that we will be ready to do everything to protect our legitimate interests.”
He added that Russia is ready to send additional “messages”if the West does not draw the necessary conclusions after applying the Oreshnik system.
About the risk of nuclear war. The head of the foreign policy department noted that Russia seeks to avoid a nuclear war with the United States and is taking all possible measures to achieve this:
“We are not thinking about a war with the United States, which could be nuclear in nature. Our military doctrine says that the most important thing is to avoid nuclear war.”
According to him, in January 2022, it was Moscow that initiated a joint statement by the leaders of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. It said what Russia would do to “avoid confrontation between us by recognizing and respecting each other's interests and security concerns.” “This was our initiative,” Lavrov added.
About relations with the USA. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation believes that Moscow would like normal relations with Washington and sees no reason why the countries cannot cooperate.
According to Lavrov, there are several closed channels between Russia and the United States; they are mainly involved in prisoner exchange issues. Also there are channels that remain secret, but in general, the Americans convey through them the same messages as in public statements: “we must stop,” “it is necessary to take into account the needs and positions of Ukraine.” The minister noted that Washington continues to support this absolutely meaningless “peace formula of Vladimir Zelensky,” which was recently supplemented with a “victory plan.”
About contacts with Trump. Lavrov explained that Russia will judge the administration of US President-elect Donald Trump on specific steps, but current American leader Joe Biden wants to leave him a difficult legacy. He said that he met with Trump several times when he met with Putin:
“He also received me twice in the Oval Office when I came for bilateral negotiations. I think he is a strong person who wants to achieve results and does not like to put things off until later. This is my impression. He is quite friendly in conversation.”
At the same time, the minister emphasized that “this does not mean that Trump is pro-Russian,” although some are trying to present him as such. According to the head of the Foreign Ministry, the ball is in Trump’s court in Russia’s contacts with the elected US President:
“We respect any choice people make when they vote. We respect the choice of the American people.”
On the worsening situation in Syria
The Foreign Minister believes that stabilizing the situation in Syria is not easy, it is a complex game in which many actors are involved:
“I hope that the meetings planned for this week will help stabilize the situation.”
Touching upon the question of who supports terrorists in Syria, the minister said that Russia “has information on this matter.” According to him, Moscow wants to discuss with all its partners how to block the channels of their financing and weapons.
“In the information that is in the public domain, in particular, Americans, British and some others are mentioned. Some say Israel has an interest in making the situation worse so that the Gaza Strip is not under such scrutiny.”
Full interview in Russian:
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