The head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov accused the West on Thursday of supporting Ukraine to put an end to "the Russian question", accusing by name the head of the European Commission, visiting kyiv.
Ursula von der Leyen "said that the result of the war must be the defeat of Russia, and such a defeat that it will not recover for decades," noted Sergei Lavrov in a television interview.
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“Isn't this racism, Nazism and an attempt to resolve the Russian question?
“, he launched.
Remarks that echo "the final solution of the Jewish question", the Holocaust orchestrated by the Nazis.
This is not the first time that the head of Russian diplomacy has used this narrative: for him, the declarations of Western support for Ukraine appear "as an attempt to definitively resolve the
Russian question
".
An "escalation"
Ursula von der Leyen is in kyiv on Thursday and Friday for a Commission meeting with the Ukrainian government and a summit devoted to Ukraine's application for EU membership.
Russian President Vladimir Putin first accused Ukraine of Nazism to justify his military offensive nearly a year ago.
Since then, Russia has said it wants to "denazify" its neighbor, registering its offensive in the legacy of the Soviet victory over the Nazis during the Second World War.
Vladimir Putin is to take the lead on Thursday in ceremonies with great fanfare marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory in the Battle of Stalingrad on February 2, 1943.
Moreover, Sergei Lavrov once again stressed that Western military support for Ukraine constituted an “escalation” in the event of the potential delivery of longer-range armaments.