According to Vladimir Putin’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, America is not powerful enough to stand up to China and Russia.
During a rambling press conference praising joint military exercises between Moscow and Beijing, Lavrov compared the US to Adolf Hitler and Napoleon, who he says mobilized European countries against the Russian empire.
By supporting Ukraine in its fight against invading Russian forces, Lavrov claimed that Washington was leading Europe in a proxy war against Russia aimed at a “final solution to the Russian question” – likening this to Hitler’s genocidal goals.
Russia’s top diplomat was criticized by Israel last year for saying Hitler was part Jewish and the worst anti-Semite Jew after being asked why Moscow was misrepresenting Zelensky, who is of Jewish background, as a Nazi.
According to Vladimir Putin’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (pictured during a press conference on Wednesday), America is not powerful enough to stand alone against China and Russia.
On Wednesday, Lavrov said the US was trying to “contain” both Russia and China with the help of other countries, but was vigilant about their “games.”
He told the assembled press that the West sees both countries as a threat – Russia right now and China as systemic rivals in the long term.
He said Washington is not powerful enough to keep both countries under control at the same time and is therefore mobilizing Europe, Japan and others to join it. At the same time, the West is trying to drive a wedge between Russia and China.
Lavrov also accused the West of seeking ways to anger China on a variety of issues, such as the status of Tibet and Taiwan — which lives under constant threat of invasion by China that wants self-governing democracy as part of its territory claimed to be retaken one day, if necessary by force. The US has said it would help defend Taiwan.
He said China is too powerful for the United States to stand up to alone should the two countries be drawn into a conflict, forcing Washington to “mobilize” the West to advance its anti-Beijing agenda support.
“They have already stated their positions on Taiwan, which are absolutely unacceptable to China and international law, they are looking for more and more opportunities to irritate China in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong,” he said.
“Therefore, China is aware that remaining in the Western system and being completely dependent on the West poses very serious risks to the fundamental national interests of China’s development.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attend his annual press conference in Moscow on January 18
Russia and China signed a borderless partnership last February, days before Moscow deployed its armed forces to Ukraine. Their economic ties boomed while Russia’s ties with the West dwindled. Pictured: Vladimir Putin meets with Xi Jinping on February 4, 2022
His comments underscored the strategic importance of Moscow’s relationship with China at a time when its army is struggling in Ukraine and its economic ties with the West have been shattered by successive waves of sanctions.
Relations with Beijing have never been stronger, Lavrov said, and the two countries shifted an increasing part of their trade to their national currencies to reduce dependence on the West and the risk of sanctions.
Russia and China signed a borderless partnership last February, days before Moscow deployed its armed forces to Ukraine. Their economic ties boomed while Russia’s ties with the West dwindled.
Putin has relied on Beijing to bail him out amid the heavy sanctions.
However, Russian President Putin has publicly admitted that his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping has “concerns” about Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
Lavrov said on Ukraine that Moscow saw no prospect of peace talks and that there could be no negotiations with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Russia has said talks are only possible if Ukraine recognizes Moscow’s claims to Ukrainian territory; Kyiv says it will fight until Russia withdraws from all of Ukraine.
He compared the West’s approach to Russia to Hitler’s “Final Solution,” the Holocaust plan to murder all European Jews. Before Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, Russia attempted to portray Kyiv as being run by a Nazi government.
He has explained his decision to send troops to Ukraine on February 24 as the need to “demilitarize” and “denazify” Ukraine to prevent the neighboring country from joining NATO and to protect Russian-speaking people living there to protect.
This approach has been heavily criticized as disinformation, racism and as a cover for an unprovoked act of aggression.
Pictured: Dnipro residents gather in front of a destroyed Ukrainian apartment building that was destroyed by a Russian missile on Saturday
Pictured: Ukrainian rescue workers search rubble for survivors after a Russian missile struck an apartment block in Dnipro on Saturday, killing at least 45 people
Though Russia has suffered a series of setbacks in its war in Ukraine, Lavrov said the objectives of Moscow’s so-called “military special operation” were “determined by Russia’s core legitimate interests” and would be met.
“There must be no military infrastructure in Ukraine that poses a direct threat to our country,” he said, adding that Moscow also intends to ensure the rights of ethnic Russians in Ukraine are protected.
At his annual marathon press conference, Lavrov dismissed Zelensky’s calls for a full Russian withdrawal from Ukraine.
He also dismissed Ukraine’s insistence on paying war damages and prosecuting war criminals as a platform for future talks, saying “there can be no talks with Zelenskyy.”
Lavrov claimed that “the West makes all decisions for Ukraine,” aiming to use the conflict to exhaust Russia. NATO members have provided significant military assistance to Ukraine.
“The amount of Western support clearly shows that the West has invested heavily in its war against Russia,” he said. “The West makes the decisions. And it made decisions for Ukraine and without Ukraine.”
He claimed Russia’s actions in Ukraine were “our response to a hybrid war unleashed against us by the West.”
He said Russia was ready to “seriously consider” Western initiatives to end the conflict, but added: “We haven’t seen any serious proposals yet.”
Firefighters work near the spot where a helicopter crashed near a kindergarten in Brovary, outside the capital Kyiv, January 18, 2023, killing 16 people including two children and Ukraine’s Interior Minister
Any future Russian talks with Western representatives should not be limited to Ukraine, Lavrov continued. “It makes no sense to only talk to the West about Ukraine.
“The West is using Ukraine to destroy the security system that has long existed in the Euro-Atlantic region and is based on consensus, indivisibility of security and solution of all problems through dialogue and cooperation.”
He warned that Russia’s showdown with the West over Ukraine is part of a global political shift that will unfold over a long period of time.
“The process of forming a multipolar world order will be long; it will take an epoch,’ he said. “And we are now in the middle of that process.”
He cited Western efforts to hamper expanding Russia-China cooperation, claiming they were unsuccessful.
Lavrov said Russia’s relations with the West “will never be the same” and accused the West of not honoring signed agreements with Russia. “Never again will there be a situation where you lie, sign documents and then refuse to fulfill them,” he said.