Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov gave a hard-hitting interview to TASS in which he once again warned of the danger of nuclear conflict and emphasized the need to meet Russia’s security demands.
Warning on the need to demilitarize, Lavrov reiterated, “The enemy is well aware of our proposals on the demilitarization and denazification of the [Kiev] regime’s controlled territories, the elimination of threats to Russia’s security that come from there and it includes our new territories…. There is a little left to do — to accept these proposals in an amicable way. Otherwise, the Russian Army will deal with this issue,” Lavrov stated.
“As for the possible continuance of the conflict, then the ball is on the court’s side of the [Kiev] regime and Washington, which stands behind it. They can put an end at any time to this senseless resistance,” Lavrov added. Nonetheless, he accused the Kiev regime of trying to drag the United States and other NATO members deeper into the conflict.
On the danger of a direct military conflict between the two nuclear powers: “We are speaking about absolutely different matters here — the political course of the West, which is aimed at the total restraint of Russia, is extremely dangerous. It bears downside risks of a direct armed clash of nuclear powers.”
Lavrov noted that Russia has stated over and over again that there can be no winners in a nuclear war and that “it must be never unleashed,” further warning,"We are deeply concerned to state the fact of the propagandistic mayhem rhetoric in the United States and in the West in general regarding the nuclear weapons issue.”
Despite the West’s claims, Russia has never spoken about the possible use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
Referring to statements made by ‘anonymous Pentagon officials’ about a ‘decapitating strike’ on the Kremlin, Lavrov said, “The one who’s gone the farthest of all the others is in Washington. There are some ‘anonymous officials’ from the Pentagon who have actually enunciated threats to deliver a ‘decapitating strike’ on the Kremlin, which is in fact an assassination threat against the Russian president,” he clarified.
“If someone really has such ideas, then this someone should think long and hard about the possible consequences of such plans,” the foreign minister cautioned.
“It seems that they have shed all vestiges of respectability,” he noted. “The notorious [ex-British PM] Liz Truss is a vivid example, given that she directly and publicly said during her pre-election campaign that she was ready to order a nuclear strike,” Lavrov recounted.
“Maintaining a normal conversation with the Biden’s administration, which declares a strategic defeat to our country as one of its aims, is objectively impossible,” Lavrov said, adding that Washington’s “confrontational anti-Russian course keeps assuming a more acute and all-embracing nature.”
