"Step towards escalation": Lavrov wants new red line for the west

Created: 05/27/2022, 11:59 am

By: Tobias Utz

The Ukraine war is also coming to a head diplomatically: Russia's Foreign Minister Lavrov warns of an alleged escalation.

Moscow/Kyiv – Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned the West not to further fuel the situation in the Ukraine war by supplying arms.

The 72-year-old was reacting on Thursday (May 26) not least to demands from Kyiv for NATO multiple rocket launcher systems in order to be able to carry out counter-attacks against Russian troops in Donbass.

Among other things, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for the Western military alliance to provide such a system.

To this end, Sergei Lavrov called on the Western powers to refrain from delivering heavy weapon systems to the war zone.

This is reported by the state news agency Tass from Russia.

Providing Ukraine with weapons that could be used to attack Russian territory is "a serious step towards an unacceptable escalation."

Ukraine-News: Lavrov accuses Zelenskyy of a lack of willingness to negotiate

On the foreign broadcaster RT Arabic, which is considered to be loyal to the Kremlin, Lavrov also appealed to Western politicians to “commonly”.

He hopes that there are still enough reasonable people in the West who would understand that.

"There are still a few of them left," added the 72-year-old.

However, it is unclear to which politicians the Russian Foreign Minister was referring in his statements.

Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister.

© Jean-Christophe Bott / Keystone / dpa

Lavrov was also dissatisfied with possible negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow.

The Russian defense minister accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of a lack of willingness to negotiate.

Zelenskyy had announced that he would not be ready for direct talks with Vladimir Putin until Russian troops withdrew to the February 24 borders.

"You don't have to explain or prove to anyone that this isn't serious," Lavrov said, according to the Interfax agency.

"It suits the West to also support this intellectually unsupported intransigence," Lavrov said.

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The Ukrainian government had previously accused the Russian government of not being interested in serious negotiations.

Rather, Moscow would now try to detach them from Kyiv by issuing Russian passports to the residents of the occupied territories in eastern Ukraine.

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Lavrov wants to draw new red line for the West - "Serious step towards unacceptable escalation"

In the first weeks after the Russian invasion, Moscow and Kyiv were still negotiating.

But talks ground to a halt when the atrocities committed by Russian soldiers after retreating from Kiev suburbs like Bucha came to light.

Unlike Ukraine, Russia had only sent second-tier politicians with no real influence.

(do with dpa/AFP)