Asked on Dec. 10 at Russia’s upper chamber, the Federation Council, about Russia’s “future dynamics” with Europe and the U.S., Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explained:
“The West is not united, and recent events have shown this once again. In one of his interviews, President Trump offered a principled assessment of Europe artificially holding back the Ukraine settlement-related agreements that could have been reached and which would have eliminated the root causes that are the main obstacle on this path.
“Europe is hobbling this process and is trying in every possible way to goad the Ukrainian ‘leader’ and members of his regime into continuing to fight to the last Ukrainian. The problem is, they are running out of money. This ideological fervor is being affected by financial considerations.... This is happening despite a growing number of countries, including several EU member states and opposition parties in EU and NATO countries, recognizing the pointless and dead-end nature of this policy. Yet Europe’s desire to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia blinds it. …
