Sergei Lavrov reiterated Russia’s official statement that Moscow had announced a “special military operation” in an interview with BBC British public-service television on Thursday.
According to Lavrov, Russia launched this operation because it could not explain to the West in any other way that Ukraine’s “involvement in NATO would be a crime.” The Russian foreign minister also reiterated the accusation that Nazis were operating in Ukraine.
A BBC reporter pointed out that, according to a recent UN report, Russian soldiers in the Chernihiv region detained 360 people, including 74 children and five disabled people, in a school basement for 28 days, with no water or restrooms, and ten elderly men died.
Asked whether this was also part of the fight against the Nazis in Ukraine, Sergei Lavrov said:
all of which is very unfortunate, but officials from international organizations, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Secretary-General of the World Organization and other UN officials, have come under Western pressure and are very often used to cover up false news spread by the West.
However, when asked if “Russia is spotlessly clean in this matter,” Lavrov said no, saying:
“Russia is what we are, but we are not ashamed to show who we are.”
Sergei Lavrov said in an interview that the BBC did not disclose what was happening in the eastern part of Ukraine, where the Ukrainian armed forces had been shooting at the civilian population for eight years.
The Russian Foreign Minister said in the case of two British citizens who had recently been sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of the breakaway region of eastern Ukraine, the “People’s Republic of Donetsk”, which Russia only recognizes: it has no interest in the West and mercenaries are not subject to the rights of warring parties under international law.
To suggest that the two British, 28-year-old Aiden Aslin and 48-year-old Shaun Pinner – who had been arrested in the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol in April – were not mercenaries but serving in the Ukrainian armed forces, Lavrov said it is up to the court to decide. He added that he is convinced that the court of the “Donetsk People’s Republic”, which acted in this case, is an independent judiciary.
Asked how he would describe the British-Russian relationship, the Russian Foreign Secretary said:
he does not believe that there is any room for maneuver in bilateral relations after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss openly talk about defeating Russia on its knees. “Well then, try it”
Lavrov added.
According to the Russian Foreign Secretary, Britain is sacrificing the interests of its own people again for the sake of its political ambitions, after its politicians think of nothing but the next election.
MTI
