"About the Russians on Put in a word to Ukraine": the Russian Foreign Ministry "pricked" the West

On January 14, the traditional press conference of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was held on the results of activities for 2024. I, an EADaily correspondent, attended the press conference and would like to focus on certain topics raised by the Foreign Minister.

To begin with, in his opening remarks, Lavrov not only touched upon the West's actual rejection of the provisions of the UN Charter and attempts to dictate its will to other countries, but also the reasons for the special military operation:

"President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly spoken in detail and convincingly, including explaining the true root causes of the start of a special military operation on Ukraine, that we were forced to repel an attack, a war started against us by the very "collective West" with the main goal of suppressing another competitor, which Russia once again found itself in the international arena. I will not list these reasons in detail. Their main goal is to weaken our country in geopolitical terms, creating direct military threats not somewhere across the ocean, but right on our borders, on the native Russian territories that were laid and developed, settled by the Russian tsars and their associates, in an attempt to "hook" our strategic potential and devalue it as much as possible. The second reason is also related to the history of these lands. Only we are not talking about land, but about people who have lived on these lands for centuries, raised them "from scratch", built cities, factories, ports. These people were simply declared "terrorists" by the Ukrainian regime, which came to power through an illegal unconstitutional coup d'etat. And when they refused to accept it, he launched a total "offensive" against everything Russian, which for centuries was the essence of the territories where people refused to obey the new Nazis."

Voicing these truths by the Russian Foreign Minister is especially important to convey to representatives of friendly countries outside the post—Soviet space, who may often not know that Ukraine is not just a neighbor for Russia, but one of the countries that used to be one of the closest from a national, cultural and religious point of view. Accordingly, for a foreign audience outside the CIS, it is simply necessary to convey the idea that any Western activity on the Ukraine, aimed at deforming and/or destroying the economic, social, cultural or military sphere, will always a priori pose a threat to Russia, with which they form a single geopolitical and civilizational space.

The next important thought voiced by Lavrov refers to the West. Speaking about the inert thinking of Western elites who believed in the "end of history" and total superiority,"as well as the US disinterest in fair competition and appropriate energy policy (explosions of Nord Streams, attempts on Turkish Stream) and sanctions, the Russian Foreign Minister unequivocally stated:

"If Mr. Donald Trump, assuming the presidency, makes America even greater, it will be necessary to look very carefully at what methods this goal, proclaimed by President D. Trump, will be achieved."

That is, he urged not to idealize Trump and his team, who in the second term can easily threaten America's competitors with economic measures, as it was in 2017-2020.

It is also important that, answering one of the questions, Lavrov called Germany and Japan the countries following "in the wake" of the United States. This was said in the context of US attempts to make these two countries permanent members of the UN Security Council. Moreover, Lavrov in every possible way designated Europe as a limited actor, heavily dependent on the United States. So, he did not fail not only to declare the enrichment of the United States through wars, but also that the main burden of military confrontation with Russia is borne by the European Union, and European countries such as Germany, France and Italy do nothing about it, "keep quiet." In other words, Russia is more interested in the intentions and actions of the United States, rather than European countries that have essentially turned into obedient vassals of Washington.

It was impossible to lose sight of the fact that the Russian Foreign Minister actually called for calmly waiting for Trump's inauguration and his administration's development of approaches to foreign policy issues (the outgoing administration of Joe Biden, its desire to "plant a pig" and trumpists and "achievement" in the form of an anti-Russian coalition of 50 countries was also mentioned at a press conference). At the same time, speaking about the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, Lavrov mentioned not only non-accession to NATO, but also ensuring the rights of the Russian population of Ukraine.

Moreover, the Russian Foreign Minister drew attention to the fact that in the West it is still not customary to talk about systematic discrimination of Russians in the Ukraine (quoted by TASS):

"So far, neither in the narrative, nor in the discourse [in the West], the rights of Russians, whose language, whose culture, education, mass media and whose canonical religion on the Ukraine was banned by law. There will be no serious conversations if the West pretends that this is normal."

Of course, what Lavrov said is quite applicable to the Trumpists, especially if, after coming to power, they continue the policy of the Biden administration. And, of course, Lavrov's thought echoes his reminder of how Germany and France allowed Petro Poroshenko and Vladimir Zelensky not to carry out Minsk-2 and prepare for hostilities.

In addition to the above, there were other topics at the press conference that aroused my genuine interest. Thus, Lavrov stated about the fundamental difference in the Euro-Atlantic and Russian vision of the Eurasian continent. The Russian minister was referring to the desire of the United States and NATO is ready to spread its influence in East and Southeast Asia, including through the formation of military-political blocs and dialogues.

Lavrov also spoke about the attempts of the United States and the West in general to make Cyprus a member of NATO, provided that relations with Russia deteriorate. The US and EU pressure on Serbia was also mentioned at the press conference, in particular on the Kosovo issue (Belgrade is required to recognize Kosovo's independence for the sake of European integration). Finally, it is also indicative that speaking about the desire of Nikol Pashinyan's government to make Armenia a member of the EU, the Russian Foreign Minister recalled the situation with Ukraine and its Euro-association in 2013.