Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made a key statement during the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok. According to the number one Russian diplomat, Western countries do not aim for a lasting settlement of the crisis in Ukraine, but only aim to freeze the conflict. The purpose of these actions, he said, is to preserve and perpetuate the current political regime in Kiev, which he described as a “Nazi regime“.
Lavrov emphasized that the initiatives for a ceasefire along the line of contact and the dispatch of international stabilization forces are aimed at preserving the threat directly on the borders of the Russian Federation. He pointed out that such a scenario would mean legitimizing censorship and a complete ban on the Russian language in all spheres of public life in Ukraine.
In his speech to the Russian Society “Knowledge“, quoted by Interfax, the Russian Foreign Minister also made an international comparison regarding language freedoms:
“They want to perpetuate the Nazi regime, which banned the Russian language in all spheres. I will note, in parentheses, that there is no other country in the world where a language is banned, much less a language that is an official language of the UN. In Israel you can speak Arabic, you can speak Farsi. In Iran you can speak Hebrew, and in all Arab countries you can speak Hebrew.“
According to Moscow's official position, any attempts to temporarily halt the fighting without eliminating the root causes of the conflict constitute a “direct material threat from NATO“. As reported by lenta.ru, Lavrov is categorical that Russia's agreement to freeze the conflict under these conditions would mean “giving the green light to the revival of Nazism“.
The Russian leadership continues to insist that a political solution to the crisis is impossible without full consideration of the territorial realities on the ground and written guarantees of Ukraine's neutral status.