Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov outlines peace in the Ukraine

Machine transcription of Youtube video very lightly edited.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov outlines peace in the Ukraine

Lavrov:

Eliminating root causes of any conflict including Ukrainian conflict this is the only way to to resolve and uh the problem and to establish longlasting peace is remove root causes

President Trump was the first and so far I think almost the only one among the uh western leaders who repeatedly with conviction several times stated that it was a huge mistake to pull Ukraine into NATO And this is one of the root causes which we quoted so many times

They also mention now another another thing which uh related to the root causes namely territorial issue.

Newsman:

Mhmm

They publicly, including Steu Witkov, they recognize that the the the territorial issues would have to be handled in the context of the longlasting settlement.

Newsman:

This is the Americans?

Lavrov:

the Americans the Americans Yes And I would like to by the way when when uh Ukrainians and the US delegations in Ariad uh agreed on some paper in favor of uh 30-day ceasefire Uh this was done in the context of the Americans saying NATO and territories inevitable No NATO and discussion on the status of territories Ukrainians and the people like Macron Starmer and Ursula Fondrelion now they say Ukraine is in favor and Russia is against the the ceasefire uh they lose sight uh I think uh on purpose uh from the nuances as Putin called them:

NATO and territories

because it is in the context of these uh aspects that the American proposal was put forward Immediately uh after this was mentioned by the Americans Zelensky administration said NATO is none of your business Uh territories we don’t discuss We need arms arms and dumps And then since it was uh in in time of discussions of this peacekeeping thing

Zelensky said we don’t need peacekeepers we need fighting units Uh so the the uh uh psychophrenia of of this uh mutually exclusive statements is very obvious But on territories I want to make a very important point We we are not about territories We are about people who live on this lands Uh whose uh ancestors lived there for centuries uh who founded cities like Adessa Katherine the Great who built factories who built roads ports and these people by uh twist of history during the Soviet days became uh not part of of Russia but part of Ukraine uh because this was considered a consolidating factor to neutralize the ultra radicals uh living in the western part of Ukraine when it joined the Soviet Union after the war.

The people who live there uh they are being uh deprived of all human rights. I quoted the UN chhatter which in article one says everybody must respect right human rights of every individual irrespective of race gender language or religion uh religious and language rights of anybody who is ethnic Russian and uh lives on the territory which used to be Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic They were deprived of their basic rights Uh the Russian language has been prohibited at all stages of education in the areas of culture media Russian books have been thrown out of the libraries Uh the nist in Germany were burning them But uh Ukrainians are uh much more smart They utilize them and get money for this you know So uh but everybody is happy

And recently the canonic Ukrainian Orthodox Church was prohibited by law. They literally exterminate anything Russian when uh in 2021 and September long before the the the operation which we had to launch Zelensky was asked in an interview what he thought and at that time the Minsk agreement was still valid though uh later Germans the French and the Ukrainian president before Zilinski admitted that they never intended to implement them they needed more time uh to arm Ukraine.

Speaking of the ceasefire for 30 days logic is the same But in September 21 Zerinski was asked what he thought about the people on the other side of the line of contact in Donbas And he said trying to sound uh clever you know there are people and there are species

And my advice to those who live with Ukraine but feel associated with the Russian culture for the sake of your kids for the sake of your grandchildren get out to Russia And just couple of weeks ago in another interview uh when he was asked what is driving him you know he said hatred to Russia The interviewer wanted to clarify uh to Putin He said no to all Russians And this is said by the person who during his uh uh artistic days uh was uh defending the right of Ukrainians to speak Russian And he said get lost Don’t even think about touching the Russian language It’s our history Um so this this this is uh this is where we are Uh hatred is not the best guide.

Can you imagine by the way uh I I want to maybe somebody knows uh Israel never prohibited Arab language No I don’t think so Uh so I think Ukraine is the only country on earth which is multinational and the language of one huge uh ethnic group uh is prohibited So make and and if you uh read and listen to what the west uh is saying EU NATO especially EU uh human rights is on top of everything when they discuss uh Venezuela Serbia Turkey human rights they never forget about human rights

Check what they are saying uh on the situation in Ukraine They say Zelensky and his team defend European values If your value is exterminating the language of those who founded the country if your value is to uh glorify uh nists and their collaborators who were convict convicted by the Nuremberg tribunal to whom you uh put monuments whose birthdays you celebrate as national holiday while ruining uh toppling the the monuments to those who saved uh Europe Europe from from nism uh toppling the monument inadessa which I mentioned already to Katherine the great who founded this that city.

By the way after it soon after this monument to Katherine the Great the empress was was toppled UNESCO granted the I guess central region where the monument was located the status of the world heritage It’s it’s such a shame to the lady who happens to be French and uh happens uh I think by by default uh to become director general of this respected organization

Newsman:

Uh Minister Lavrov All right So you eliminate the root cause and you talked about territory I was just in a session uh talking about the European security structure and on there was the Ukrainian foreign minister and he says uh when it comes to territory I hear your your your your concept your idea your position on on territory but they’re not going to accept anything less than the 1991 borders

Lavrov

It’s not about them accepting it It’s about uh making 100% certain that the people who have been living there for centuries are not deprived of their inherent right and if uh Ukrainian nist regime I cannot describe it otherwise enjoys the cover from the European Union which as I just mentioned never dropped a word about the situation with human rights in Ukraine then this is the not our problem Okay We listen to those people who voted at referendum Yeah To join Russia to restore all their rights which belong to them by international law and by by history by by justice.

Newsman:

Okay uh you have stated on numerous occasions that it is a hostile act to even entertain the idea of foreign peacekeepers Uh would under any circumstance the Russian Federation think about neutral peacekeepers in the territory.

Lavrov

uh the biggest advocates of uh something like stability force sustainability force uh are Macron and Starmer and they uh are not thinking about any neutral force They say we Macron and Starmer would would would be the countries who would provide the the most of the contingent Uh they talk by the way to countries uh outside uh European Union including Turkey They talk according to the rumors they said that they talking to China which is a lie India Indonesia they mention Um my question is first President Trump who as I mentioned already seems to understand much much much more about what is going on than any European leader except no except I I would uh highlight Hungary and Slovakia this this uh uh leaders are uh quite thoughtful but it was President Trump uh who said first many things on NATO on territories and he said that when asked about this idea of a contingent, enforcer group whatever you call it uh there should be some discussion between the parties they say

I think Macaron said no discussion with Russian Ukraine is a sovereign country It has the right to invite anybody and they are inviting us in brackets I would repeat what Zelensky said We don’t need peacekeepers We need fighting units So make your own conclusion But um Kit Kellock by the way yesterday said that why don’t we divide Ukraine like we divided Berlin after World War II Then he said he was uh misunderstood uh misspoken Uh but everybody is missing the key point Imagine yes leaders of Brussels bureaucracy they say uh we must reach a deal which at the end of the day must guarantee uh Ukraine sovereignty.

They by the way didn’t mention territorial integrity but sovereignty My question is to them you mean you want to have peacekeepers to keep the same regime which uh is now headed by Zelensky You don’t want uh to uh ask this regime whether it would be uh interested in implementing the international commitments in including UN charter regarding the rights of minorities for national minorities language and religious rights Nobody is raising the issue So my my conclusion is that by ignoring the gross violation of of all the uh international norms about human beings by ignoring this uh these norms uh and violations by Zelinsky of these norms and at the same time by discussing deployment of something military call it peacekeeping call it uh stabilization force on the remaining part of Ukraine They want to use this force not to keep peace but to keep and protect the this regime and this is key Everything else is uh smoke screen.

Newsman:

You mentioned the important talks that uh were going on in Riyad and some of the conversations you had with the American delegation Um also what was talked about is safe navigation in the Black Sea Uh we know that uh there was a process uh going on in building this uh with the Turkish side with the Republic of Turkey Um what is your stance in terms of developing this.

Lavrov

It was it was one of the proposals uh mentioned by President Trump in his uh latest phone conversation with President Putin Uh and uh President Putin said okay but we have to uh specify the deal the way which would not allow the failure of the first one uh to to be repeated And the first one was in 2022 Uh it was a package guarantees for Ukrainian uh exports Um and the second part of the package was memorandum between the UN and Russia uh to guarantee the uh exports from Russia by ensuring normal uh freight rates insurance rates by uh ensuring the right of the Russian bulkers with fertilizers with grain to call on European in Mediterranean uh ports and so on and so forth Just the normal terms of trade no concessions Uh and the Ukrainian part of the deal uh was implemented Uh the Russian uh not even not even uh you know started.

Uh we don’t blame the United Nations uh whose uh representatives were trying and they continue to try because formerly the Russian Ukraine uh Russian UN deal lasts until July this year uh it was uh three-year deal while deal on Ukraine was one year and of course uh after the first year uh elapsed uh we said thank you very much we don’t want to play uh one way u and then secretary general Gutes was trying secretary general oft Rebecca Greenspin was trying but the UN position the UN secretariat position was very u you know tricky Basically they were saying we cannot touch sanctions The fact that they recognized unilateral sanctions as legitimate So they told us we will try to find a way by passing sanctions so that we don’t violate them

And they have been trying to do this for almost three years and uh uh to no avail U so when uh it it is not for the first time that this Black Sea uh topic is uh popping up again Last year President Erdogan I think in March uh proposed to President Putin uh to resume the deal Um he said that Zelensky uh is ready to cooperate Uh the proposal was different from the original deal because the original deal provided for inspections of the uh Ukrainian cargo vessels uh going back to Ukrainian ports to make sure that they don’t carry any weapons Last year the proposal by President Terogan to President Putin was uh to to uh trust me it would be an announcement that there no weapons uh on board and uh it would be allowed to go Uh it was not an easy it was not an easy uh situation but President Putin said that uh he will support it provided president Erdogan used his good offices uh to discipline Ukrainians so that they don’t fail and then at the last moment Zelensky uh refused even that.

Newsman:

Even that.

Lavrov

Actually he he first added President Erdogan President Putin and said Zelensky also wants to add commitment not to attack nuclear power stations Putin said okay it has nothing to do with Black Sea uh traffic but okay and then when he agreed to this addition Zelensky refused So we are coming again and again to this situation.

In the meantime Ukrainians frankly speaking I don’t think they complain uh about uh difficulties for their grain uh being exported They um send a lot uh on dumping on dumping prices to European Union European Union is not happy and instead of doing something about this situation uh for the sake of their citizens Brussels people threaten to stop importing any growing from Russia They’re very specific uh leaders They say that uh Kayakalas Analena Berbok they were saying yes when when criticized by the people who saying we live worse than before Yes we understand But our electorate um should suffer for the sake of Ukraine while at the same time uh thousands and thousands of Ukrainians living there in European luxury buying uh very expensive vehicles But this is what European elite calls European values which they defend uh in the person of Zilinski regime

So this time when President Trump suggested another Black Sea deal Putin said “Yeah we are ready but we need we need uh to draw lessons from the past and uh let’s make sure this the there is before we launch it let’s resolve the things on freight insurance uh calling on the ports.” The Americans took this and they are considering they didn’t come back to us after this Another initiative of President Trump was uh 30-day moratorium not a total ceasefire but 30-day moratorium on attacking energy infrastructure Uh during this phone conversation President Putin immediately agreed and uh he authorized gave orders to the chief of general staff uh to stop attacking Ukrainian energy infrastructure even infrastructure related to the military Uh and uh at that moment seven drones Russian drones were airborne and Putin gave order uh to shut them down which which was done Uh since then uh we have been uh keeping the the the word uh and uh Ukrainians have been attacking us uh from the very beginning every passing day maybe with two or three exceptions And um I gave to our colleagues from Turkey to minister Fidan uh what we give to uh Americans uh to UN to OC uh the list of facts listing the the attacks uh by Ukraine during last three weeks against Russian energy infrastructure We I understand he hates all Russians So he give orders Either he gives orders and they are not taken or he he is lying that he is giving these orders It’s it’s it’s a tragedy It’s a tragedy.

Newsman:

Has there been any direct or indirect contact by the Ukrainian side here in Antalya

Lavrov

Not to my knowledge I came here to work.

Newsman:

Okay Um ladies and gentlemen we’re coming to the end of our allocated time

Um I’ve talked about relations with the West the United States the situation in Ukraine If any uh esteemed journalist has a question on anything else

journalist

China From China Yes From China From China Yeah Mr Minister would you think that the President Trump or some guys around President Trump has said they’d like to adopt soal the counter eastern approach to drive the way between Russia and China and realign with Russia after the aftermath of war how would you see or how would you evaluate this kind of soal the kind of approach

Lavrov

You mean you mean to to to do what to

journalist

Yeah To make the ties between Russia closer and drive the way between Russia and China Would that have effect.

Lavrov

Look uh I can only tell you that in none of our contacts with the Americans in none be it phone conversation be it meeting in person this issue was never raised or even hinted upon Never And I think that uh the uh Trump uh the pre President Trump and his people they are very experienced in life And when you understand life it’s much easier to do politics And uh since he understands life I believe those who understand life they would never even think about trying to drive a wedge between Russia and China