Russia intends to be “taken seriously” after the firing of the new heavy Orechnik missile on Ukraine at the end of November and warns that it is ready to use “all means” possible to defend itself, according to remarks released Thursday by the Russian minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov.
The United States and its allies must “understand that we would be ready to use all means to prevent them from achieving what they call the strategic defeat of Russia,” he told the editorialist and controversial host Tucker Carlson, who was the first American journalist to interview Vladimir Putin after the invasion of Ukraine.
“We are sending signals and we hope that the last one, two weeks ago (missile firing) was taken seriously,” said the minister.
According to Russian authorities, this missile launch was in response to bombings carried out by kyiv in Russia using American and British missiles.
While insisting that Russia wants to “avoid any misunderstandings” with Washington and its partners, Mr. Lavrov warned that Russia will send “additional messages if they do not draw the necessary conclusions.”
“We would like to have normal relations with all our neighbors (…) with all countries and in particular with a large country like the United States,” Mr. Lavrov also affirmed less than two months before the inauguration of the President-elect Donald Trump while Joe Biden's administration says it wants to “ensure that Ukraine has the capabilities it needs to defend itself against Russian aggression.”
Mr. Lavrov accused the Biden administration of escalating the conflict in Ukraine “to leave the Trump administration as bad a legacy as possible.”
“We do not see why Russia and the United States could not cooperate for the good of the universe,” Lavrov said.
“Hybrid warfare”
“Officially we are not at war, but what is happening in Ukraine, some call it a hybrid war, I would also call it a hybrid war,” he said, adding: “It is obvious that “The Ukrainians could not do what they do with modern long-range weapons without the direct participation of the American military.”
Mr Putin said the Orechnik missile flew at ten times the speed of sound and could not be intercepted by air defenses. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack “the latest bout of Russian madness.”
Warning that Moscow was “ready for any eventuality”, Mr Lavrov nevertheless insisted that Russia “far preferred a peaceful solution through negotiations on the basis of respect for Russia's legitimate interests”.
Discussing what such a peace deal might look like, the minister said kyiv should, among other things, accept Russian control of “the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhia regions.”
“These regions are now part of the Russian Federation, in accordance with the Constitution, and this is a reality,” he asserted.
Mr. Lavrov also commented on Mr. Trump's arrival in power, describing the president-elect as “a very strong person, who wants results, who does not like procrastination on anything.”
Donald Trump, who takes office in January, has promised to quickly end the war without explaining how he would do it.
Also addressing the Middle East, Mr. Lavrov described the Israeli offensive in Gaza as “collective punishment” of the Palestinians, going “against international humanitarian law”.
The minister also declared himself “very concerned” about the situation in Syria where rebel groups have seized entire areas of territory from the government of Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Russia. He said he planned to speak with Turkish and Iranian officials on the situation on Friday.
