Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke at a press conference in Moscow, Russia, on March 17. (Evgenia Novozhenina / Reuters)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia did not want a war on the entire continent in Europe, but added a note of caution about the intentions surrounding Western governments supporting Ukraine.
“If you are worried about the prospect of war in Europe, we absolutely do not want that, but I draw your attention to the fact that the West is constantly insisting that Russia must be defeated in this situation. Draw your own conclusions, “Lavrov said.
Lavrov seemed to be referring to comments such as those of US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who said last month that Washington wanted to “see Russia weakened to the point that it could not do the things it did when it invaded Ukraine.”
Russia is constantly trying to justify its invasion of Ukraine as a fight against Ukrainian neo-Nazis and NATO’s expansion into Eastern Europe, forces that the Kremlin says pose an existential threat.
Earlier, Lavrov hinted at the danger of a wider war – even nuclear – a rhetoric that US President Joe Biden called “irresponsible”.
Energy exports: Speaking with Oman’s Foreign Minister Saeed Badr Albusaidi after talks in Muscat on Wednesday, Lavrov said Moscow has enough buyers for its energy resources as the European Union considers banning Russian oil imports.
“We have enough buyers of our energy resources. We will work with them and let the West pay them much more than it paid the Russian Federation and explain to its population why it needs to become poor,” he said.
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