Lavrov Takes On ‘Insolence’ of NATO Attitude Toward Ukraine

Dec. 28, 2021 (EIRNS)—Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in a Dec. 27 interview with Vladimir Solovyov of the “Solovyov LIVE” YouTube channel, denounced the attitude of NATO and the West toward Ukraine as “insolent” and charged that Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Ukraine, are clearly “egging on” the Alliance, with the charges that Russia is building up forces on the border and about to invade Ukraine. “It doesn't surprise me,” said Lavrov.

“The gall of adopting the current positions of the West and NATO. The Baltic States, Poland and Ukraine are clearly stirring it up. We are on our territory. President Putin made it exceedingly clear for our friends during the [Dec. 23] news conference, asking them to imagine that what we are now witnessing on the western borders of the Russian Federation was unfolding near the U.S. border with Mexico or Canada.

“Ukraine is being loaded up with weapons. They are boasting about the $2.5 billion in ammunition and systems, including offensive weapons, supplied since 2014,”

reported the transcript posted to the Foreign Ministry website.

Lavrov reported that when Zelenskyy began his election campaign he had a “progressive minded and called for liberating people from the oligarchs, for respecting the rights of Russians and other national minorities, and, most importantly, for bringing peace to Donbas, [but] doesn’t differ much from Arseniy Yatsenyuk. When [Yatsenyuk] was prime minister, he travelled abroad, where he spoke about building a wall with barbed wire and a ditch, a project everyone soon forgot about. And Yatsenyuk referred to the people of Donbas as subhumans....

“And a little earlier, he, the President of Ukraine got emotional and said, ‘if anyone in Ukraine feels like a Russian, they should go to Russia.’ He said that, and no one ... in any European capital or in the United States has commented on that outrageous statement....” But, Lavrov remarked, “Volodymyr Zelenskyy acts recklessly quite often. They are afraid of this recklessness, because simple foolishness (which the Western media are increasingly pointing out) may start a conflict that nobody needs.”

When it comes to the Minsk agreements, Lavrov insisted, “We are not going to destroy them, but if someone else does, they will have to accept the consequences.” Russia is ready for the Normandy format talks among Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany, but only if the others “stop any funny business with us. This is what our partners are doing now, allegedly working with Kiev to persuade Ukraine to fulfill the agreements from two years ago. Everyone agrees to meet before they implement the Paris Summit decisions. We say, you implement the decisions first, and then we meet....” because otherwise the decisions of the Paris summit and the meeting of leaders, in general, are going to be devalued, he said.