In an interview aired on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that the use of a hypersonic missile in the conflict in Ukraine was intended to convey to the West that Moscow was prepared to employ any measures necessary to prevent a "strategic defeat" from being dealt to Moscow.
In what Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin called a test of a missile he claimed could not be brought down, Russia launched the Oreshnik hypersonic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro last month. Russia may deploy more of these missiles under "combat conditions" if necessary, he claimed.
The message is that you—that is, the United States and its allies, who also supply the Kyiv regime with these long-range weapons—must realize that we would stop at nothing to prevent them from achieving what they refer to as a strategic defeat of Russia," Lavrov told American journalist Tucker Carlson.
They battle to maintain their dominance over all nations, regions, and continents. We defend our justifiable security interests. Speaking in English, Lavrov claimed that in the weeks and months leading up to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022—referred to in Moscow as a "special military operation"—the West had declined to talk about maintaining security assurances for Russia.
Western politicians warned Moscow against invading its smaller neighbor as Russian forces gathered on the Ukrainian border in early 2022. Three weeks prior to the invasion, French President Emmanuel Macron met with Putin and claimed to have been assured that Russia would not do anything to exacerbate the situation.
Lavrov claimed that Ukraine had missed two chances to preserve its territorial integrity by turning down offers of a settlement, once prior to the start of the full-scale conflict and again during negotiations in Turkey in April 2022. "This war was not initiated by us. We have been saying for years and years and years that bringing NATO closer and closer to our borders will cause issues," he stated.
Putin said that Moscow was protecting Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine and attempting to "de-Nazify" the Ukrainian authorities in Kyiv, which is why he dispatched troops across the border from Russia and its partner Belarus. RED LINES Lavrov also stated during the 80-minute interview that the West should give up the idea that Russia has no "red lines" that it would not allow anyone to cross in order to protect its interests.
The peace plan first proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in late 2022 and the "victory" plan that followed earlier this year were both deemed "pointless" by Lavrov. In June of last year, Putin stated that Russia was open to negotiations with Ukraine as long as Ukraine recognized Moscow's authority over the four areas of the nation it had acquired, albeit without complete control over any of them.
At first, Zelenskiy's approach demanded that Russia fully withdraw and acknowledge its post-Soviet boundary from 1991. He stated last month that if government-controlled regions of Ukraine were placed under the NATO "umbrella," Ukraine could engage in negotiations and leave Russia on its current borders.
