The head of Russia’s diplomacy Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday compared Western countries’ actions against his country to the Nazi regime’s “final solution” to exterminate the Jews, comments that echo theses now commonly invoked in Moscow.
“Just as Napoleon mobilized almost all of Europe against the Russian Empire, just as Hitler mobilized and conquered most European countries to set them up against the Soviet Union, the United States assembled a coalition against Moscow today,” Lavrov said during his opening press conference of the year.
Their task is “the same: the ‘final solution’ of the Russian question. Just as Hitler wanted to solve the Jewish question, Western leaders are now saying in no uncertain terms that Russia must suffer a strategic defeat,” he added.
If Moscow regularly accuses Western countries of wanting to “destroy” Russia by arming Ukraine, Mr Lavrov’s new comments are likely to provoke strong reactions.
Last year, Mr Lavrov caused an outcry by claiming that Adolf Hitler had “Jewish blood,” forcing Vladimir Putin to apologize to the Israeli prime minister.
The head of Russia’s diplomacy also reiterated on Wednesday that Moscow is ready to consider any “serious proposal” for Western negotiations to settle the Ukraine conflict.
“We haven’t seen any serious proposal yet, but we will be ready to consider it and make decisions,” he continued, while ruling out any dialogue with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“We hear the mantra in Western capitals that you can’t talk about Ukraine without Ukraine… But it’s the West that decides anyway,” he said.
Mr. Lavrov also again demanded the withdrawal of all “military infrastructure” located in Ukraine and neighboring countries and threatened “directly” Moscow, as well as an end to the alleged “discrimination” against Russian speakers in Ukraine.
As the conflict sparked a crisis between Moscow and Western countries, Lavrov praised the “trustworthy” relationship between Russia and China, “based on a balance of interests.”