Lavrov: “West adopts schizophrenic logic”

UNITED NATIONS – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has branded as schizophrenic the West’s statements that talks between Russia and Ukraine will be possible only after Kiev’s counteroffensive at a news conference in New York.

The minister said that Moscow declared all its goals during the special military operation, but would like to learn what the West is up to in Ukraine. He also urged those who theorize about the possibility of a Third World War to show responsibility and constraint. Among other things, the minister also spoke about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s possible response to a letter by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Below are Lavrov’s main remarks, made at a news conference to sum up the results of his visit to the United States within the framework of Russia’s presidency in the UN Security Council.

Situation in Ukraine

“Now, this funny theory has emerged: let us we (Western nations – TASS) ensure Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive and then we will ask Ukraine, [President Vladimir] Zelensky to begin talks. But this is schizophrenic logic. We don’t want any threats to our security to come from Ukrainian territory and these threats have been accumulating there for years, especially after the coup in February 2014.”

Speaking about whether achieving peace in Ukraine is possible this year, he said: “Hopes and expectations are not what I’m paid for.”

Russia declared all its goals during the special military operation, but would like to learn what the West is up to in Ukraine, and “would also like to hear from our Western colleagues, as a reciprocal move, what goals they are pursuing there.”

Third World War rhetoric

In Lavrov’s opinion, the West’s talk about a possible Third World War “substitutes for a normal professional conversation between responsible politicians.”

Claims that, if Ukraine is defeated, it would be impossible to avoid a Third World War, are irresponsible: “I hope in general that those who make them [the statements]  keep a cool head and act responsibly.”

Grain deal and Guterres’ letter

The response to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the grain deal “will come once the addressee is made aware of it.”

“If this paper is made public, it would not be very decent. It would indicate another attempt at exerting pressure on the situation that is not being resolved and that has been driven to a dead end by our Western colleagues,” he said.

Guterres is paying efforts to unblock Russia’s agricultural exports, but those efforts have produced “practically no result  unless you regard the hope beginning to appear that instead of normal supplies of necessary products to global markets it will be necessary to beg US, European ports, banks and other structures, insurance companies each time to show good will, as a result.”

Issues of extending or broadening the grain deal are not being discussed between Russia and China, since the two states have “a common border with established channels for exports and imports.”

Source: TASS

Nada Haj Khidr