Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday he believed that some foreign leaders were preparing for a war against Russia and that Moscow would continue its military operation in Ukraine until “the end”.
Lavrov also said that Russia does not think about nuclear war.
Offering no evidence to support his statements in a state television interview a week after the Russians invaded Ukraine, he also accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a Jew, of presiding over “a society where Nazism is flourishing”.
He said he had no doubts that a solution to the Ukraine crisis would be found, and a new round of negotiations was about to begin between Ukrainian and Russian officials.
But he said Russia’s dialogue with the West must be based on mutual respect, accused NATO of trying to maintain supremacy and said that while Russia had a lot of goodwill, it could not let anyone harm its interests.
Moscow would not let Ukraine maintain the infrastructure that threatened Russia, he said.
Moscow also could not tolerate what it said was a military threat from Ukraine, he said, adding that he was convinced Russia was right about Ukraine.
“The thought of nuclear energy is constantly spinning in the minds of Western politicians, but not in the minds of Russians,” he said. “I assure you that we will not allow any kind of provocation to unbalance us.”
Russia does not feel politically isolated, and the question of how Ukraine lives must be defined by its people, he said.
Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of hitting civilian areas, but Lavrov said Russian troops were under strict orders to use high-precision weapons to destroy military infrastructure.
Offering no evidence, Lavrov said Russia had information that the United States was worried about the prospect of losing control over what he described as chemical and biological laboratories in Ukraine and accused the United Kingdom of building military bases there.
latest war news
On the eighth day of the war, Russian troops deployed near Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, on Thursday (3). According to the Pentagon, headquarters of the US Department of Defense, the Russians are “stopped” for a regroup before a possible invasion of the capital, or facing challenges such as lack of supplies or resistance from civilians. Despite advances by Russian forces, officials on both sides hope to discuss a possible ceasefire.
Delegations from Russia and Ukraine are due to meet this Thursday (3) for the second time in Belarusto continue negotiations in search of a resolution to the conflict.
The first conversation between the delegations after the start of the attacks took place on Monday (28) and lasted five hours, but ended without any progress. On Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia should stop bombing Ukrainian cities before negotiations can take place.
The Russians took control of Kherson, a strategically important town on a Black Sea inlet with a population of nearly 300,000. The mayor of Kherson, Ihor Kolykhaiev, declared on Wednesday (2) that the Ukrainian military is no longer in the locality and that its inhabitants must now comply with the instructions of “armed people who have come to the administration of the city.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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