Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov granted a lengthy interview to Sky News Arabia today. The English-language transcript is not yet complete on the Foreign Ministry site, but the following discussion, addressing the burning question of nuclear war, deserves close study. (The transcript reports the journalist’s questions as translated from Arabic.)
Question: ….I would like to talk about the “strategic defeat” that the West wants so much. The West today is like a child playing with matches. Does Russia want escalation?
Lavrov: No escalation. You are right; they are playing. They really seem to have a child’s mentality, even though they are adults holding positions of responsibility: ministers, prime ministers, chancellors, presidents, etc.
For several months now, there has been this discourse about Russia only threatening and mentioning some “red lines,” which the West keeps crossing and nothing happens.
In fact, President of Russia Vladimir Putin recently commented on this situation in St. Petersburg. If acted on, the initiatives to provide Ukraine with U.S., French and British long-range missiles and to greenlight striking any target inside Russia will mean that NATO countries are at war with Russia.
Thankfully, there are a few reasonable people in Washington who realize this. NATO is waging war against Russia. But this is a hybrid war, a proxy war that they have Ukrainians fight for them. When it comes to Western long-range missile systems, it is clear to everyone that Ukrainians will not be able to use them. Only specialists from the country that has made the weapons will be able to aim them, to provide satellite data and assign flight missions.
Speaking of the “strategic defeat” on the battlefield … there are people in the United States and in Europe who were paying attention during their history lessons and have learned it well. Napoleon, and later Adolf Hitler tried to inflict a strategic defeat on us. Both rallied most of Europe under their banners—countries that had obediently submitted, had been occupied and provided their military, their armies to be commanded by Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler. Both campaigns ended in disaster. Again, anyone who is well-read and good at history is perfectly aware of this.
