US President Donald Trump's statements on the need for sustainable principles for resolving the Ukrainian conflict became the basis for the agreed understandings reached at the Russia-US summit in Alaska, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with Russian media, BTA reported.
Russia "regularly" raises the topic of neo-Nazism in its contacts with the US and "they know our position perfectly well", Lavrov added. According to him, Trump was "simply disheartened" when he learned about the ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The Russian Foreign Minister also said that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky proves with his actions that he is a "Nazi". "Where is the evidence to the contrary", the Russian diplomat continued. According to him, "Ukraine has done nothing in the field of human rights" to join the EU.
Ukraine rejects the regular Russian accusations of Nazism as absurd.
He also commented on the information disseminated by the Federal Security Service (FSB) that it had foiled an operation by Ukrainian and British intelligence to hijack a Russian MiG-31 fighter jet with a "Dagger" hypersonic missile for further use in a provocation against NATO's largest air base in Romania.
Lavrov said that London was trying to compensate for its "weak military power" with efforts on the principle of "divide and rule".
The Ukrainian Center for Combating Disinformation described these allegations as "propaganda". Romanian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Cernea called the accusations "fabricated" and compared them to "a Soviet spy novel".
Lavrov also made harsh statements about the Baltic states, which, in his words, "greatly overestimate" their importance for Western Europe. According to the Russian Foreign Minister, London has assigned the Baltic states "the role of provocateurs". According to Lavrov, they are trying to "provoke Russia to actions" that could trigger the activation of Article Five of the NATO Treaty.
Lithuania's decision to close its border with Belarus "is outrageous", Lavrov continued.
The Lithuanian government recently announced that the border crossings between Lithuania and Belarus will remain closed to most travelers until the end of November. Lithuanian authorities indicated that this measure is necessary due to systematic intrusions into the country's airspace from Belarus of balloons with smuggled cigarettes.
Another topic that Lavrov commented on today is the US position towards Venezuela. In recent weeks, Washington has been amassing military forces in the Caribbean region. In addition, the US military has carried out numerous strikes on vessels it suspects of drug trafficking. Trump justified the strikes with the position that the US is involved in a "military conflict" with drug cartels.
Lavrov said that the US attitude towards Venezuela "will not improve Washington's reputation in the world community". Instead of dealing with the problem of drug trafficking in Venezuela, "the US would be better off dealing with the eradication of this phenomenon in Belgium", Lavrov added.
He said in response to a journalist's question that Venezuela had not turned to Russia for military assistance or with a request to deploy Russian weapons on its territory.