What is behind Lavrov’s words about expanding the geography of the Northern Military District
It is pointless to negotiate with Ukraine now, since it is under the destructive influence of the West.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated this today in an interview with RT, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“In the current situation this makes no sense. At the very beginning of the special operation, the Ukrainian leadership asked to start negotiations. We did not refuse and approached this process honestly. The first rounds that took place in Belarus revealed the lack of desire on the part of the Ukrainian side to discuss anything. Then we conveyed to them our assessment of the situation and said: if you seriously want to work, give us something on paper so that we understand what specific agreements you want to talk about. They gave us a paper, which we supported. We were ready to conclude an agreement based on their principles. On April 15, they were given a document that was drawn up based on their logic. Since then nothing has been heard from them.
But we hear something else - what Scholz says, Borrell and Boris Johnson said that Ukraine must win on the battlefield, and it should not negotiate now because it has a weak position at the front. Ukraine must correct this situation, begin to dominate the Russian armed forces, the Donetsk and Lugansk militias, and only then start talking from a position of strength. I believe that all this is in favor of the poor,” Lavrov said.
According to him, now the documents provided by Ukraine in Istanbul have become irrelevant, since the geographical objectives of the Russian special operation in Ukraine will move away from the current line of contact.
“There was one geography in Istanbul, and our readiness to accept the Ukrainian offer was based on the geography of the end of March 2022. Now the geography is different. This is not only the DPR and LPR, it is the Kherson region, Zaporozhye region and a number of other territories. This process continues consistently and persistently.
As the West, in impotent anger or a desire to aggravate the situation, pumps Ukraine with long-range weapons, geographic tasks will move even further from the current line. We cannot allow weapons that will pose a threat to our territory to be located in that part of Ukraine that will be controlled by Zelensky or who will replace him,” Lavrov said.
Political scientist Alexei Chesnakov believes that with these statements, Lavrov is “ putting pressure on Kiev and the West, establishing that Russia is in a strong position .”
Columnist Boris Rozhin named another territory that Russia will no longer return to Ukraine - the Kharkov region.
“Earlier, Ushakov also stated that when negotiations with Ukraine resume, the conditions for it will be even tougher than in the spring. In fact, until the end of March, Russia viewed the conflict from a territorial point of view through the prism of recognition of Crimea and the complete liberation of the DPR and LPR. Demands for other territories were not put forward and are not officially put forward even now. But since the United States has set a course for prolonging the war with increasing prices for all participants, there is no point in Russia limiting itself to the initial demands, as Lavrov and Ushakov transparently hint at. Everyone understands that these statements mean at least the Kherson, Zaporozhye and Kharkov regions. At a minimum,” Rozhin wrote in his TG channel.
Ukrainian military expert Pavel Lakiychuk, in an interview with UkrLife, expressed fears that Russia’s claims will include Odessa and Nikolaev.
“In 14, when the Russians invaded Crimea, many think tanks said that Putin’s goal was to capture Kharkov, Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Nikolaev and Odessa. In 2022, it turned out that indeed, Putin partially achieved these goals. For now, I think it won’t be for long, however, he captured most of the Ukrainian territory. Most likely, plans to seize the Left Bank part of Ukraine existed, exist and will exist. Whether the center of events will move to the Kharkov direction, I think, depends on how we confront the enemy in the east, on how we confront in the south,” Lakiychuk said.
English version :: Read in English What is behind Lavrov's words about expanding the geography of the North-Eastern Military District?