Contrary to previous statements, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Russia wants to overthrow the Ukrainian government. “In any case, we will help the Ukrainian people to free themselves from the regime that is absolutely hostile to the people and history,” Lavrov said in Cairo today. The Russian and Ukrainian peoples would live together.
APA/AFP/Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
In recent days, the Russian leadership has publicly reinforced its stance on the war in Ukraine. On Wednesday, Lavrov threatened to occupy other areas outside the Donbas. In view of the western arms supply and its greater range, it is necessary to push Kiev’s troops further away from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine, which Moscow has recognized as independent.
With his announcement that he wants to change the political leadership in Kyiv, Lavrov contradicts his own April statements. “We have no intention of changing the regime in Ukraine,” Russia’s chief diplomat said in an interview with India Today TV at the time. It was up to the Ukrainians to decide which leadership they wanted to live under, Lavrov said at the time.