Moscow: Peace is Possible Only if Ukraine Accepts Truly “Neutral” Status
In an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov outlined the Ukraine's future acceptable to Russia: “No NATO, no foreign military bases, no exercises on the territory of Ukraine with the participation of foreign troops”
Russia is ready to use all means at its disposal to avoid a “strategic defeat” from the so-called USA-led “collective West.” Nevertheless, a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine will be possible “only if Kiev agrees not to join NATO, closing the Western military bases on its territory and canceling military exercises involving foreign armed forces.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson that the same conditions were set as in April 2022: “Now a lot of time has passed, and we need to take into account the reality on the ground,” Lavrov said, referring to the Russian army offensive in Donbass.
During the interview, which was seen by more than three million people on social networks immediately after its publication on Thursday night (December 5-6), the head of Russian diplomacy suggested that Western leaders should “think very seriously” about the changes to the Russian Constitution following the referendums held in the Donetsk and Lugansk republics, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions, which are now an integral and inalienable part of the Russian Federation.”
Lavrov stressed that Moscow does not want war with the United States, but hopes for “normal relations with our neighbors and in general with all countries, especially with major countries like the USA.” Nevertheless, after the White House authorized the use of US-made long-range missiles against targets deep inside Russian territory, Lavrov said Russia ‘is not officially at war’ with the United States, but the ongoing war in Ukraine is a hybrid war.” “Ukrainian forces would not be able to do what they are doing, with long-range weapons, without the direct involvement of the US military,” emphasized the minister, who believes “this is a very dangerous situation.”
Finally, regarding the global conflicts currently taking place, Lavrov also commented on the offensive by jihadist forces in Syria: Russia, Lavrov said, is very concerned about the situation, especially after rebels captured the cities of Aleppo and Hama. “At the beginning of the crisis, we set up the Astana (the capital of Kazakhstan – ed.) peace process with the participation of Russia, Turkey, and Iran, with regular meetings to discuss the situation on the ground and the rules of the game: the initiative was supposed to help the Syrians end tensions and prevent the growth of separatist threats,” Lavrov said, emphasizing that “this is what the United States is doing, helping Kurdish separatists and exploiting oil and gas revenues in the territories they illegally occupied.”
