In his “60 Minutes” interview on Dec. 25, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was very specific about what would and what would not be acceptable to Russia to settle the Ukraine war.
“The prevailing discourse we are hearing both in the West and in Ukraine today is about a truce and only truce. It is about buying time to allow the Kiev regime to regain strength, with the help of the West, and resume its attempts to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, acting on their Western bosses’ instructions…. We will not be satisfied with a truce. We need reliable and legally binding agreements aimed at eliminating the root causes of the conflict, addressing problems such as common security in Europe, NATO expansion, the European Union’s recent decision to become an appendage of the North Atlantic bloc, in fact, erasing all differences between these organizations, and above all, upholding the rights of the people living in these territories who have supported reunification with the Russian Federation.”
Lavrov reiterated the formulation: “We need a final, fully-fledged, legally binding and lasting settlement of problems in Europe, including the Ukrainian crisis…. It has long been clear to everyone holding unbiased positions that it can be settled only in the context of agreements on lasting security and stability in Europe, which would take into account the interests of the Russian Federation and the legitimate interests of all other countries.”
