Lavrov: Ukraine has lost legitimacy, the West is preparing provocations against Russia

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made a series of detailed statements on the program “The Big Game” on Channel One — about Ukraine, the negotiation process, the role of the West, and the risks of escalation.

Media outlets compiled the key points made by the Russian foreign minister.

On Ukraine’s status and its prospects

According to Lavrov, Ukraine “no longer exists as a legitimate phenomenon in world politics” and has lost all the hallmarks of an independent subject of international relations.

“The fact that Ukraine, which we recognized as a legitimate phenomenon in world politics, no longer exists — that is a fact. All those hallmarks proclaimed as the foundations of the Ukrainian state, which allowed us to recognize it as an independent subject of international relations, have been lost,” the minister said.

Lavrov also recalled that Zelensky publicly stated at the beginning of 2022 that abandoning nuclear weapons had been a “mistake,” and that a number of Ukrainian politicians had begun “seriously hinting” at the possibility of returning to nuclear status using Soviet-era developments.

Moscow considers any formats that effectively replicate NATO membership for Ukraine without formal legal status to be unacceptable. Lavrov stressed that any military facilities and people in military uniform in this context are a “legitimate target” for Russia. The European Union, he said, “has turned into the same kind of military bloc as NATO.”

On negotiations and the role of the United States

Lavrov described US presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff and businessman Jared Kushner as people who “are working on the problem” rather than issuing ultimatums.

“I knew Kushner back during Trump’s first term, when the US president received me at the White House. He makes an impression of a pleasant and reliable person. I have communicated with Witkoff during President Trump’s second term. He also clearly wants to achieve results,” Lavrov said.

According to him, Russia, at the request of the American side, declared two- to three-day ceasefires — for Easter, for Victory Day — and did not use force while American negotiators traveled to Kyiv. At the same time, Lavrov expressed surprise at Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statement that the US “cannot be a mediator” because it “unequivocally supports Ukraine” — particularly given that Putin accepted the American proposals at the Anchorage summit “without any changes.”

The minister also did not rule out Putin’s participation in a possible Russia-China-US summit in Shenzhen on the sidelines of APEC: “I do not rule it out, and I am more than confident that our president will not pass up such an opportunity.”

At the same time, Lavrov noted that the US administration continues to extend existing and adopt new anti-Russian sanctions, which “sits poorly with the mood that the American delegation conveys at the negotiations.” The Americans, he said, are also showing realism on the question of elections in Ukraine, not insisting that they be held.

On Europe’s position

The duration of the special military operation, according to Lavrov, will depend in part on the “reason of Western countries.”

“Much will depend on how reasonable the advice is that the masters of the Ukrainian regime give it,” the minister said.

Lavrov interpreted calls for a ceasefire from Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as an attempt to “buy time for the Kyiv regime.” He linked the urgency of these calls to the painfulness of Russia’s response to strikes on Russian regions: “Our response to terrorist acts against peaceful civilian targets deep within Russian territory has also long been underway, and it is significantly, far more painful for the Ukrainians.”

Demands to restore Ukraine’s 1991 borders Lavrov called an attempt to “hand over to a real concentration camp the people of Russian culture who have lived on these lands for centuries.” European countries, he said, are redirecting their budgets toward military needs despite worsening domestic problems: “The military-industrial complex is thrilled. They are making enormous profits.”

On the risks of provocations and Putin’s words

Lavrov did not rule out that the West might attempt to stage a provocation modeled on the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand before the First World War. Regarding German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, he said: “I do not rule out that people like the German Chancellor Merz are capable of once again trying to repeat the exploits of their ancestors.”

Putin’s words that in the event of a European attack on Russia the war would be “completely different and very short,” Lavrov called “a clear position, not a figure of speech,” and advised people to “remember” them. At the same time, he rejected the notion that Russia is preparing aggression against Europe, calling such claims “nonsense.”

“On the one hand, they say Russia is losing, so Ukraine must be supported in every way, that support must be increased and Ukraine will win, and on the other hand — this Russia that is ‘losing’ in their eyes is preparing an attack on Europe. From the standpoint of a politician, saying such nonsensical things is not serious,” Lavrov stressed.

On the Arctic and the case of the Professor Molchanov

Lavrov expressed concern about the militarization of the Arctic, pointing out that the US and Norway had recently conducted exercises there “with a scenario that openly presupposes war with the Russian Federation.”

The arrest of the Russian vessel Professor Molchanov the minister called “a disgrace to Norwegian justice and the Norwegian state as a whole,” stressing that the vessel had been engaged exclusively in scientific and tourist activities at Svalbard in accordance with the 1920 Svalbard Treaty.