Sergey Lavrov said today, Friday, that Russia wants the Ukrainian people to be independent and have the right to freely determine their own destiny. liberated from Nazism so that the Ukrainians, liberated from this oppression, can freely determine their own destiny.
The Russian minister stressed that his country does not plan to “occupy” Ukraine, noting that “President Putin’s speech explains the objectives of the Russian military operation in Ukraine.”
And on the possibility of dialogue with the Ukrainian government, he said that Russia is ready to hold negotiations with the Ukrainian authorities as soon as “the Ukrainian armed forces lay down their arms.”
He added, “Hope from talks with NATO was there for the last moment, and security guarantees were supposed to be signed,” noting that the goal of the Russian initiative to ensure security that was presented last December was to control NATO’s expansion in the region, he said.
He pointed out that Moscow “does not see the possibility of recognizing the democracy of the current government in Ukraine… We are interested in the Ukrainian people being independent and having a government that represents their diversity.”
He added that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is lying by saying that he is ready to discuss Ukraine’s neutral status.
He also said that Moscow did not want “neo-Nazis” to rule Ukraine.