‘Ukraine Declared War on Everything Russian’: Lavrov Says Russia Fighting for its Existence

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov placed blame on the US and its allies for the problems faced by the global economy and said Russia should not be blamed for the war in Ukraine while attending a discussion at the 2023 Raisina Dialogues in New Delhi.

Lavrov also said that during the G20 summit in Indonesia last year the joint communique or the G20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration contained a summary condemning the war but why did G20 not draft communiques during its previous summits which coincided with the wars in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan.

“If the USA has the right to declare a threat to its national interests, in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Syria, (countries) ten thousands of miles away. (Why) do (you) not ask them any questions?” Lavrov told Observer Research Foundation’s chairman Sunjoy Joshi, who was moderating the discussion.

Lavrov pointed out that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and US Joe Biden believe that a Russian strategic defeat and a defeat on the battlefield is existential for them.

He said Russian actions are not comparable to the American actions in Iraq. He said those attacks were made on independent countries ‘overnight’.

“We have been warning for ten years and have told them (Ukraine) that the things they are doing are very bad. (And this) is not across an ocean but on the border where Russians have been living for centuries,” he said.

Lavrov also said shelling in Donbas increased towards the beginning of 2022 – signalling that Russian people living along the eastern belt of Ukraine were being targeted.

He referred to the 2014 Euromaidan protests, which ousted former president Viktor Yanukovych and said: “Ukraine, following the coup, in its legislation brought provisions that denied Russian citizens (living in Ukraine) the right to use Russian language in education, in media and in culture. They cancelled everything that had to do with the Russian language,” Lavrov said. He said those who were brought to power after the coup were “neo-Nazis”.

He said when those people said they did not accept the coup, the Ukrainian government declared these people terrorists.

“It is the regime who started the war against these people. We were defending them,” Lavrov said.

Lavrov also said special status to a small area in eastern Ukraine was not granted despite demand and several legislations were passed that excluded the Russian speakers living along the eastern belt of Ukraine.

Lavrov then put forward his viewpoint and said the war is against everything Russian in Ukraine. “Nobody lifted a finger when the Russian language was cancelled in Ukraine. We went to OSCE and to our European friends and even questioned them on why they were not saying anything.”

Lavrov tried to offer a comparison and said that can anyone imagine teaching of English being cancelled in Ireland or French language being banned in Belgium or German being cancelled in Switzerland.

He said that no international forum discussed these issues.

In the beginning of the discussion, Lavrov also said Europe and the US not only lied about the expansion of NATO but also over several other issues.

“Between the lie of not expanding NATO and the events that started a year ago, there were many developments that one cannot overlook. There was no delivery on legally binding or written commitments,” Lavrov added.

He reminded that the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said no country can develop their security by putting someone else’s security in danger.

The Russian foreign minister also spoke on the Kremlin’s ties with India and China and said Moscow wants both nations to have good ties with each other. Speaking on energy exports, he said, Russia’s energy policy will be oriented towards reliable credible partners like India and China.

(with inputs from Abhishek Jha)

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