As of: April 1, 2024, 7:25 p.m
By: Marcus Giebel
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Reject the Ukrainian peace plan in clear terms: According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the world should follow China's example. © Screenshot Izvestia
Sergei Lavrov speaks in an interview about possible peace talks in the Ukraine war. He rejects Kiev's plan outright.
Moscow – After more than two years of bloodshed and destruction, the question is more than ever how the Ukraine war can come to an end that both Kiev and Moscow can live with. Sergei Lavrov also addressed this in a more than 80-minute interview with the pro-government newspaper
Izvestia
. The Russian Foreign Minister clearly rejects Ukraine's peace plan.
Lavrov on peace talks in the Ukraine war: idea from Kiev is “completely crazy”
After the conversation initially focuses on the attack in Moscow and Russia's hunt for those behind it, as well as the re-election of Vladimir Putin and the reactions from the West, Lavrov is finally asked about China's initiative to resolve "the situation in Ukraine". Moscow's senior diplomat then emphasized that this twelve-point plan from Beijing in February 2023 was received positively, "because unlike the 'Zelensky formula', which was completely crazy from a diplomatic point of view, the Chinese plan was based on an analysis of the causes of what was happening and took them into account the need to address these root causes of the crisis.”
In its peace plan, Kiev demands that Russian troops be withdrawn and that the border be restored after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Russia should also be held accountable for its actions. Lavrov and Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin don't like that at all. Russia seemed to like an initiative for a peace plan from Africa better.
Video from the Ukraine war: Russia launches “massive missile attack”
Lavrov rails against Ukraine's peace plan: “Russia should capitulate and limit its weapons”
The remainder of the interview focuses on the escalated Middle East conflict, which, according to the 74-year-old, requires cooperation between Russia, the USA, the UN and the EU to resolve. Because of the current discrepancy between the various key players, Lavrov is asked again about the extent to which peace talks are possible if both sides do not dare to meet.
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“We are still ready to talk, but not on the basis of these 'Zelensky formulas',” Lavrov emphasizes, before adding: “How can a serious politician in Washington, Brussels, London, Paris, Berlin declare that the 'Zelensky formula ' has no alternative?"
Then he lists: “The essence of this formula: Russia must surrender, Russia must leave Crimea, Donbass, Novorossiya, Russia must pay compensation, the Russian leadership must come to The Hague and surrender to the tribunal, and Russia must voluntarily declare their willingness to limit their weapons, at least in the areas bordering Europe.” Just a few days ago, the Foreign Minister declared Crimea an integral part of Russia and thereby banned any discussions about its return to Ukraine.
Lavrov stirs up fear in annexed territories: Ukraine is allegedly planning genocide after Russia's withdrawal
Lavrov also denies Ukraine to be neutral, to live in good neighbors with other former Soviet states and to respect human rights and the rights of national minorities. It also fuels fears that Ukraine could commit genocide in the territories currently held by Russia after Moscow's troops withdraw. As evidence, he uses an alleged quote from an unnamed Ukrainian parliamentarian who is said to have called for a public mass execution in Crimea.
It is another threatening gesture to rouse the people living in the annexed territories and the states that have not yet completely renounced Russia despite the atrocities. In this way, the Kremlin presents itself as a protective force for the population that is supposedly being liberated by Moscow.
They don't just work hand in hand in the Ukraine war: Sergei Lavrov (r.) has served as Vladimir Putin's loyal foreign minister since 2004. © IMAGO / ITAR-TASS
Lavrov offers West cooperation: “World has changed”
He once again accuses the West of no longer being interested in equal cooperation: “The goal is to punish us and bring about a strategic defeat.” Russia should be driven into isolation.
Although Lavrov, who recently shot against NATO, then explains that Russia is orienting itself more towards Eurasia and Africa, he keeps the door open to the West: “When it comes to its senses, when it realizes (…) that the world has changed and new centers of power have emerged, new centers of economic development and financial power, and that it is necessary to respect these.”
However, if cooperation is not possible “on the basis of equality, mutual respect, mutual benefit and the search for a balance of interests,” Moscow would look for other partners within the UN “on an equal footing.” While the Kremlin often cracks the whip towards the West in the form of nuclear threats, Lavrov also offers a bit of a carrot in this interview.
(mg)