Russia recognizes Ukraine, which is significantly different from the current country with its "openly Nazi" regime, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the Hungarian YouTube channel "Ultrahang", TASS reported, quoted by BTA.
"First of all, we recognized Ukraine on the basis of its own Declaration of Independence and Constitution. In 1990, a Declaration of Independence was adopted, which spoke of a nuclear-free, neutral, non-aligned state, recognizing the rights of all national minorities, etc. And this was then enshrined in the country's constitution. So we recognize a Ukraine that is significantly different from the country currently ruled by an openly Nazi regime," Lavrov believes.
According to Lavrov, the prospect of the Russia-US summit in Budapest will depend on the American side, which initiated the event.
TASS recalls that on October 23, Russian President Vladimir Putin, answering questions from journalists from the Kremlin pool, emphasized that the Russian-US summit in Budapest had been postponed rather than canceled.
Asked when Russia would be able to say that its goals in Ukraine had been achieved, Lavrov replied that Russia's goals "have never changed."
The Russian Foreign Minister also explained why Russia controls territories outside the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
"I think it is inappropriate for people to ask when the war will end, when we will stop, when will we return Zaporozhye… In fact, we already control other territories outside the regions included in our constitution“, said Lavrov. According to him, "the reason is simple - we need a buffer zone".
Lavrov emphasized in the interview that Russia, without any doubt, recognizes the independence of Ukraine, but opposes Kiev's attempts to destroy everything Russian. The head of Russian diplomacy drew attention to the fact that shortly after February 2014, the then US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland admitted to Congress that the US had so far "allocated about $5 billion to support Ukraine and that this was not in vain, because in the end "democracy" triumphed.
According to Lavrov, after the "coup" (the overthrow of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014 - ed. note) "the people of Crimea rejected this authority and held a referendum, then Donetsk and Lugansk did the same", he recalled (these referendums are not recognized by the international community - ed. note).
According to the Russian Foreign Minister, Europe is trying to divert US President Donald Trump from his logic on how the Ukrainian crisis should be resolved.
"It is very indicative that now they are trying to divert US President Donald Trump from the logic that he himself has repeatedly expressed earlier. He directly said - in fact, perhaps he was the first and, probably, the only leader in the West (and perhaps in the whole world) who from the very beginning, even before taking office, in early September 2024, said: "NATO should not interfere in the events in Ukraine. If NATO stands right on Russia's borders, it will not tolerate it, and I can understand their feelings," Lavrov noted.
According to Lavrov, in the spring Western politicians began to talk about "an immediate ceasefire without any preconditions".
"They still sing this song today. Mark Rutte, Emmanuel Macron. By the way, when French President Macron switched to the logic of "a ceasefire, an end to the killings without preconditions, and then we'll see", he was asked if this meant that arms supplies to Ukraine would be stopped. He replied: no, it doesn't. There are no preconditions".
Moscow shares US President Donald Trump's assessment of the results of the Alaska summit that the issues surrounding the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict are solvable, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said in the interview.
In the interview, Lavrov advised British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to recall the words and actions of European leaders before claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin does not want peace.
"When British Prime Minister Starmer says that Russian President Putin is the only one who is against negotiations, he should remember (former British Prime Minister Boris) Johnson. "He should remember those in Germany and France who signed the agreement (the Minsk agreements – ed. note), and then, a few years later, admitted that they never intended to implement it, even though they were approved by the UN Security Council," the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out.
Towards the end of the interview, Lavrov indicated that Moscow was ready to continue its contacts with the American side at a pace that would be convenient for Washington.