Russian Foreign Minister explains military campaign in Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Photo: AP

According to the Russian Foreign Minister, Moscow has repeatedly stated the threat to its security and for many years has called on the West not to allow Ukraine to become “anti-Russian”, not to create a military threat to the Russian state from Ukrainian territory, not to interfere with the Russian language, education and culture, but the West has not paid any attention to this. “The direct threat to our borders, which we have been warning about for many years, has been completely ignored,” Lavrov said.

Foreign Minister Lavrov noted that Russia has long been trying to reach out to the West. Thus, in December 2021, Russia once again proposed that both the United States and the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) join the European Security Treaty, but Moscow's proposals fell on deaf ears. According to Lavrov, "the West's aggressive defense of its 'brainchild' in the form of the Kiev government shows that this regime has been deliberately nurtured for many years to pose a threat to Russia."

In another development, on the same day, the press secretary of the President of Ukraine, Mr. Serhiy Nikiforov, said that the country is ready to consider the form of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine proposed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, if Russian President Vladimir Putin agrees.

On February 24, Russia launched a special military operation to demilitarize and defascize Ukraine. After that, Mr. Erdogan invited Mr. Putin to Türkiye for talks with Ukraine. At the end of March, negotiations were held in Istanbul, but did not produce results./.