IN BRIEF: Russian Foreign Minister on Ukraine conflict, Europe’s military buildup

VLADIVOSTOK, September 3. /TASS/. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke about the West’s position on the Ukraine settlement, NATO and European Union policies, and Germany’s militarization during a lecture organized by the Znanie Society at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).

He also addressed the status of the Russian language and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, and the situation in the Asia-Pacific region.

TASS has compiled the foreign minister’s key statements.

West’s position on Ukraine

The West’s position on Ukraine is disgraceful, as it disregards key provisions of the UN Charter: "The UN Charter states in its first article that everyone must respect human rights regardless of race, sex, language or religion. Moreover, Ukraine’s constitution still states that the state guarantees the rights of Russians and other national minorities. Nobody cares about that. They passed laws that contradict the UN Charter and the constitution, and everyone says these are supposedly European values. I consider the West’s position absolutely disgraceful."

EU and NATO policies

The North Atlantic Alliance is unlikely to survive much longer, as its attempts to find new reasons to extend its existence cannot continue indefinitely: "I don’t think the North Atlantic Alliance will last much longer. Its attempts to find new reasons to extend its existence, including by expanding its dominance into Southeast and Northeast Asia under the slogan of ‘containing China,’ cannot continue indefinitely. The Taiwan issue continues to gain momentum, and this effort will eventually run out of steam. Once again, voters will ask: What are we doing there?"

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is a "fuhrer" pulling Europe back toward Nazism: "We call European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen "Fuhrer Ursula." She is trying to pull powers and responsibilities into the European Commission that, under decisions by the European Union as a whole, were never transferred to Brussels and remain with national governments. This tendency is becoming increasingly pronounced."

The European Union’s "open-door" policy has triggered a migration crisis for the bloc itself: "The dominance of newcomers is becoming a problem for domestic development. It is causing discontent among the native population, which is forced to pay taxes to support people who have arrived. Ukrainian citizens also fall into this category. EU countries have provided them with subsidies and benefits since the beginning of the special military operation, when they fled their country, and in some cases, these benefits significantly exceed the unemployment benefits available to those countries’ own citizens."

Merz’s militaristic ambitions

Lavrov was stunned by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s militaristic ambitions: "I was simply appalled. We saw the metastases of Nazism reemerging in Germany previously. But when Chancellor Merz said he would make Germany Europe’s leading military power again, I was simply appalled." "If this man does not understand what the word ‘again’ means in this context, that is of course very sad for Europe and extremely dangerous. Europe is once again becoming a source of ideas about national and racial superiority."

Berlin has chosen to try to influence Russia by "strengthening support for fugitives": "The steps Germany has taken mean only one thing. Instead of maintaining open contacts that allow people to convey their culture and views, the Germans chose to support these fugitive agents."

Germany is once again trying to "place everyone else under its control" and prevent individual EU countries from maintaining normal relations with Russia: "Germany is again trying to bring everyone else under its control and suppress any moves toward normal relations with Russia that still exist in some EU countries, even though there are only a few of them."

Status of the Russian language in Ukraine

Washington and "nobody at all" have never told Kiev that the Russian language must be "restored" or that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) should not face persecution: "Washington, and nobody else, has ever sent any signals to the Kiev regime that the Russian language must be restored or that the canonical church should not be targeted."

Russia raised these issues with US officials during contacts, asking how they could support those engaged in "this purely racist, Nazi activity": "They say: there will be negotiations, and we will include all of this on the agenda. That is wrong. There are things that cannot be made conditional. The right to language and religion is one of them."

AUKUS activities

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is ignoring risks associated with AUKUS, the military alliance of Australia, Britain and the United States, under pressure from the collective West: "We approach this issue carefully because failure to comply, or incomplete compliance, with IAEA standards carries the risk of spreading military nuclear technologies. Unfortunately, the current IAEA leadership seems to treat this rather lightly, clearly under extremely strong pressure from the United States and Britain."

Situation in Asia

Military cooperation among the United States, Japan and South Korea is growing: "Military cooperation among the United States, Japan and South Korea is expanding, with South Korea and, more recently, Japan under Prime Minister [Sanae] Takaichi increasingly interested in adding nuclear components, creating a risk of weapons of mass destruction proliferation."

Russia hopes that President Donald Trump will be able to ease tensions around the Korean Peninsula, but the substance of the US policy in the region is to contain North Korea: "The Korean Peninsula also plays an important role. Despite the zigzags in President Trump’s policy toward the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, he recently said that he gets along very well with Kim Jong Un, that they are friends and that he is ready to meet and communicate with him. But of course, the US is pursuing a policy of containing the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on the Korean Peninsula. God willing, they will manage to ease tensions."

The Asia-Pacific region poses the West with a range of challenges in terms of preserving its dominance: "They do not hide this. Everyone that develops relatively independently is facing pressure from the West. I am not even talking about China, Russia or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, but even countries that remain relatively independent and continue to maintain trade, economic, cultural and educational ties with Russia despite the pressure are facing it, again based exclusively on the West’s philosophy of dominance."

RIC format

The work of the RIC format, comprising Russia, India and China, is being revived: "We are restoring this three-way format now. It has operated quite regularly all these years since 1998 without interruption, except during the COVID pandemic."

Russia has numerous plans with India and China, particularly in nuclear energy: "We have a great many plans with both China and India. I would single out nuclear energy."