Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said in an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson that the Ukrainian conflict can be settled peacefully only if Kiev refuses to join NATO, closes Western military bases in the country and cancels exercises involving foreign military personnel.
‘No NATO. No military bases, military exercises on Ukrainian soil with the participation of foreign troops,’ Sergey Lavrov said.
The minister noted that Kiev would have to accept new realities, the main one being the incorporation of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions into Russia.
‘This is not only the line of contact. We cannot tolerate the situation when Ukrainian legislation that bans the Russian language, Russian media, Russian culture, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church persists. This is a violation of Ukraine’s obligations under the UN Charter,’ the diplomat explained.
Lavrov pointed out that since the ‘Russophobic legislative offensive’ began in 2017, the West has been silent.
The Russian foreign minister emphasised that Moscow is ready for any development of events around Ukraine, but prefers a peaceful settlement taking into account the security interests of the Russian Federation.
‘In his latest statement, Russian President Vladimir Putin made it clear that we are ready for any development of events. We prefer a peaceful settlement through negotiations based on respect for Russia’s legitimate security interests, respect for Russian people living in Ukraine, their basic rights, language and religious rights, destroyed by a number of laws adopted by the Ukrainian parliament,’ the diplomat concluded.
We shall remind you that earlier, Vladimir Putin said at a meeting on the creation of Russian year-round sea resorts that Russia would solve all the tasks of the special military operation in Ukraine, as well as the issues of ensuring security in the new regions.
