MOSCOW, March 3 – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that he believed some foreign leaders were preparing for war against Russia and that Moscow would continue its military operation in Ukraine until the “end”.
Lavrov also said Russia had not thought about a nuclear war.
Without offering any evidence to support his remarks in an interview with state television a week after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he also accused Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, an ethnic Jew, of chairing a “society where Nazism thrives.”
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He said there was no doubt that a solution to the crisis in Ukraine would be found and a new round of talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials was forthcoming.
But he said Russia’s dialogue with the West must be based on mutual respect, accused NATO of seeking to maintain supremacy, and said that while Russia had very good will, it could not allow anyone to undermine its interests. .
Moscow will not allow Ukraine to maintain the infrastructure that threatens Russia, he said.
Moscow also cannot tolerate what he said was a military threat from Ukraine, he said, adding that he was convinced that Russia was right for Ukraine.
“The idea of nuclear energy is constantly on the minds of Western politicians, but not on the minds of Russians,” he said. “I assure you that we will not allow any provocation to unbalance us.
Russia does not feel politically isolated, and the question of how Ukraine lives must be determined by its people, he said.
Ukrainian authorities have accused Russian forces of striking civilian areas, but Lavrov said Russian troops had strict orders to use high-precision weapons to destroy military infrastructure.
Without offering any evidence, Lavrov said Russia had information that the United States was worried about losing control of what he described as chemical and biological laboratories in Ukraine and accused Britain of building military bases there.
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Report from the Moscow bureau
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