Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov gave an interview to Turkish media on Jan. 29 in which he delivered long, detailed answers—one might even say his answers were encyclopedic—to well-thought-out questions. The bulk of the discussion was on Ukraine, but he also took questions on NATO, Greenland, Iran and Syria and Russian-Turkish relations. The interview is lengthy, and well worth the read, but a few quotes stand out.
On Ukraine: “Do we regard this conflict as a major confrontation between Russia and the West? The answer is yes. Ukraine is a pawn and a tool used by the West to build up a bridgehead right on the borders of the Russian Federation in order to create direct threats to our security.”
“The Zelenskyy regime in many ways repeats history, but not as a farce, because too many people have lost their lives for it to be a farce, people who are being sacrificed by Zelenskyy and his Western patrons. This regime has adopted Nazi laws and destroyed all monuments that reminded us of our common victory in the Great Patriotic War. This regime glorifies Stepan Bandera, Roman Shukhevych, and other collaborationists convicted by the Nuremberg Tribunal, and promotes the ideology and practice of Nazism, as we now see them do. In fact, this regime reflects the true intentions of the West which didn’t go anywhere, and mean one and only one thing: The West is ready once again to resort to these Nazi man-hating methods and sow hatred towards everything that is Russian for Russia not to feel safe. The answer is, of course, global in terms of the nature of this conflict.”
On NATO: “The scenario of NATO coming apart is of no interest to us. The alliance is an anachronism, a holdover from a past era. After the Warsaw Treaty Organization had been dissolved, the Soviet Union ceased to exist, and all Soviet republics became independent (and continue to strengthen their independence). The rationale for NATO’s continued existence vanished.”
“Speaking of a Third World War, the Baltic states and a number of other activists, primarily those who have recently taken over power in Germany and the French alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are fanning the narrative about a Third World War which Russia will allegedly start.
