The West’s “500 year domination of the world” is coming to an end, a puppet of Vladimir Putin’s regime has claimed.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also accused Western allies of trying to grind his country down in Ukraine but said Russia has been strengthened by the conflict, as he said it was when the Russians defeated Adolf Hitler and Napoleon.
In further unhinged remarks, Lavrov said the “hybrid war” in Ukraine is based on “cancel culture”, adding it is up to the Ukrainians to recognise “how deep they are in the hole where the Americans put them”.
Asked about the prospect of diplomacy bringing about a ceasefire or peace, Lavrov said: “You’ll have to call Mr Zelensky because a year-and-a-half ago he signed a decree prohibiting any negotiations with Putin.”
Sky News also reports Lavrov as saying it was unacceptable for Israel to use Hamas’s October 7 attacks to justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
His comments come after Russia’s top diplomat delivered a blunt message to Western leaders earlier this month, declaring at an international security conference that Moscow was not prepared to review its goals in Ukraine.
Lavrov, speaking at an Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe conference, said: “We aren’t seeing any signals from Kyiv or its masters about their readiness to seek any kind of political settlement.”
Others at the meeting accused Moscow of undermining the OSCE with its war in Ukraine. The organisation was originally established to ease Cold War tensions.
Ambassador Katrina Kaktina, Latvia’s OSCE representative, said in response: “It is Russia that is waging an unprovoked and unlawful war against Ukraine, and it is Russia that is obstructing the OSCE agenda.”
She added: “Russia is continuing violations of human rights: deliberate killings of civilians, including children, forced deportations, tactics of torture and sexual violence. Those are war crimes being committed by Russia in Ukraine.”
Putin had expected a quick campaign to establish Kremlin control over Ukraine when Russia sent its troops over the border in February 2022. But Putin’s “special military operation” has turned into a grinding war of attrition which has led to huge personnel losses and drained Russia’s resources.
While Russia prevented Ukraine from making any significant gains during its summer counteroffensive, Moscow doesn’t have enough manpower or equipment to mount any major campaigns of its own.
The resulting stalemate sets the stage for months of positional fighting over the winter, when the freezing weather will hamper any large moves and likely make both sides focus on protecting their gains.
Putin expects the continued fighting will gradually exhaust Ukrainian resources and undermine Western support for Kyiv, but a protracted conflict also exacerbates Russia’s economic woes, deepens social problems and fuels divisions within Russia’s ruling elite.
The US, UK and European Union and other allies have vowed to continue supporting Kyiv for as long as necessary. Both Washington and Brussels have also pledged that the Israel-Hamas war will not distract them from helping Ukraine.
Meanwhile on Sunday (December 10), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky travelled to Argentina to witness the swearing-in of the country’s new president, Javier Milei.
It is the Mr Zelensky’s first-ever trip to Latin America and comes as Kyiv continues to seek support among developing nations for its almost two year-long fight against Russia. Mr Milei welcomed the Ukrainian leader at the presidential palace after his inauguration in Buenos Aires.
The two shared an extended hug, exchanged words and then Mr Milei, who has said he intends to convert to Judaism, presented his Ukrainian counterpart with a menorah as a gift. They were expected to have a longer one-on-one meeting later on Sunday.
A political outsider who has railed against what he calls entrenched, official corruption in Argentina and promised to uproot the political establishment, Mr Milei ran on a pro-Western foreign policy platform, repeatedly expressing distrust of Moscow and Beijing.
Mr Zelensky’s office said he also had a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss the details of the next defence package from France.
