According to Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, the current situation in Ukraine is a direct result of the US and West’s desire to rule and dominate the world.

In an exclusive interview with India Today, he said, “The current events are rooted in the US and West’s desire to rule the world. They wanted to show the world there would be no multipolarity, only unipolarity, and created a springboard [Ukraine] against us [Russia] at our borders. They pumped arms into Ukraine.”

It is always terrible when military activities bring damage to civilians: Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister.@Geeta_Mohan #RussiaUkraineWar #Russia #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/hDpJ8Utqpa

— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) April 19, 2022

He added, “The real reason [for the war] is the complacency of most countries after World War II. They violated their promises to Russian leadership and started moving Nato eastward after the Soviet Union disappeared. They said it’s a defensive alliance and not a threat to Russian security.”

UKRAINE-EU TIES HURT RUSSIA: SERGEY LAVROV

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said,“As early as 2003 for example, when the Ukraine had another presidential election, the West was publicly and bluntly demanding from Ukrainians “you must choose- whether you are with Russia or with Europe.” And then they started pulling Ukraine into European Union Association Agreement. The agreement provided for zero tariffs for Ukrainians goods into Europe and European goods into Ukraine.”

Sergey Lavrov claimed that he had flagged Russia’s concerns if Ukraine signed an agreement with EU, while they had free trade agreement with Russia.

“In 2013, the Ukrainian President asked the EU to postpone the signature of the association agreement and we suggested that the 3 of us—Russia, Ukraine, and the EU—could sit together and discuss how to proceed.”

He claimed that the EU turned down the suggestion and allegedly told Russia that it is “none of their business”.

NO CIVILIANS TARGETED IN UKRAINE, SAYS SERGEY LAVROV

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine. He said the military action sought to “demilitarise and denazify” Ukraine and came in response to threats from Ukraine. Since then, several people – including civilians – have been killed in Ukraine and millions of others have fled the nation.

Responding to the allegations of war crimes committed by the Russian army, Sergey Lavrov said, “Our army has only been targeting military infrastructure and not civilians. The Ukrainian army has been using civilians as human shields.”

He added, “The West is not paying attention to our facts. They are placing attention on false things like what they said about Bucha. They brought up Bucha three days after the Ukrainian mayor of Bucha proudly said the city was back under their control.”

Several images of corpses lying in the streets of Bucha in Ukraine had emerged in international media, triggering global outrage against Russia.