Lavrov claims Ukraine has lost legitimacy: "Russia needs ’buffer zone’"
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed that Ukraine had lost the attributes that allowed Russia to recognise it as a "legitimate actor in international relations" and proposed turning it into a "buffer zone".
He made the remarks in an interview with the programme "The Great Game" on Channel One, as quoted by Russia’s Interfax, Censor.NET reports.
Claim that Ukraine has lost legitimacy
"This 'either-or' approach, this portrayal of everyone who does not want to sever ties with Russia as opposed to European values, has long been part of their thinking. We have already discussed this extensively, but it is a fact that the Ukraine we recognised as a legitimate entity in world politics no longer exists," Lavrov said.
The Russian foreign minister also claimed that all the attributes that supposedly allowed Russia to recognise Ukraine as an "independent actor in international relations" had been lost. He cited Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO and the EU, which he described as "now just as much a military bloc as NATO".
Proposal for a "buffer zone"
Lavrov was asked how to ensure that Russians could be confident that a similar situation would not recur in 25 years and that "residents of western Ukraine would not invite NATO in".
"Everyone is discussing Russia’s need for a 'buffer zone'. Let Ukraine become that buffer," Lavrov said, adding that he and the Russian dictator had repeatedly discussed how modern Ukraine came into being, "when the western territories were annexed to the Soviet Union at the behest of the Soviet leadership".
On nuclear weapons
Lavrov also recalled that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had previously said Ukraine should not have given up its nuclear weapons. He noted that some politicians were hinting at the possibility of regaining that status by "drawing on Soviet-era developments".
Background
- The Kremlin previously said it did not rule out the resumption of trilateral talks between Ukraine, the US and Russia. However, there are currently no concrete agreements on the venue or timing of a possible meeting.
- Meanwhile, Putin’s office acknowledged that there is currently no plan to end the war against Ukraine.
