Lavrov Accuses the West Over Its Role in the Ukraine Crisis

Moscow. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused Western countries of using the Ukraine crisis not to promote peace and negotiations, but to maintain long term geopolitical pressure against Russia.

Speaking at an ambassadorial roundtable in Moscow titled “Ukraine Crisis: The West’s True Goals and Role,” Lavrov said the West has continued to provide military, financial and political support to Kiev with the aim of using Ukraine as a platform for confrontation with Russia.

According to Lavrov, Western countries have long protected and encouraged Ukrainian nationalism. Referring to the political events in Ukraine in 2004 and 2014, he accused the West of playing a direct role in Ukraine’s internal political upheavals. He said Russia views the events after 2014 as the rise of forces in Kiev that pursued hostile policies against Russian speaking citizens in Donbass.

Lavrov also claimed that European powers are trying to preserve their influence over any Ukraine settlement process. He accused Europe of undermining even limited signs of a more dialogue oriented approach from the United States. In his view, Europe’s call for an immediate ceasefire is intended to halt Russia’s military advance and give Kiev time to rearm, similar to what Moscow says happened during the Minsk process.

The Russian foreign minister alleged that Ukrainian forces have carried out attacks against civilian targets inside Russia and said the West has either ignored or supported such actions. He argued that the purpose of this strategy is to spread fear, dissatisfaction and division within Russian society.

Lavrov said Western calls for negotiations are not aimed at achieving a balanced settlement, but at saving the current Ukrainian leadership and preserving Ukraine as a long term military and political front against Russia.

He also criticized what he described as Western restrictions on free expression. According to Lavrov, Russian views on the Ukraine crisis are often denied space in the European public sphere, while alternative assessments of the conflict are treated as unacceptable.

Addressing the future of the international order, Lavrov described the current global struggle as a contest between one centre of domination and a multipolar balance of interests. He said Russia and its partners in regional organizations, including the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Eurasian Economic Union and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, support dialogue, sovereignty, security balance and the principles of the United Nations Charter.

Lavrov reiterated Russia’s position that Ukraine must have a neutral, non aligned and non nuclear status in practice. He said this was the status originally reflected in Ukraine’s Declaration of State Sovereignty and the basis on which Russia and other countries recognized the Ukrainian state.

He concluded that, despite what he called manoeuvring by European elites and Kiev, Russia would achieve the stated goals of its special military operation.

Lavrov’s remarks reflect Russia’s official position on the Ukraine conflict. Ukraine, the European Union, the United States and other Western countries hold sharply different views on the causes of the war, responsibility for the conflict, the nature of negotiations and the future security framework for Europe.