Lavrov's Post Putin Meeting Presser

Excellent filling out of Putin's speech

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's remarks and answers to media questions following President Vladimir Putin's meeting with Foreign Ministry officials, Moscow, June 14, 2024.

I insist that readers absorb Putin’s speech to the MFA team prior to reading this for it acts as the preamble for Lavrov’s performance that follows:

You all heard President Vladimir Putin's speech and his in-depth analysis of the situation with global, European and Eurasian security. President Vladimir Putin once again set out in detail our consistent policy on the Ukrainian track, which has never met with understanding in the West, which has decided to turn Ukraine into an instrument of suppression of the Russian Federation, including by military, economic and other methods.

Speaking about security, Vladimir Putin said that the Euro-Atlantic security model is a thing of the past. In this regard, I would like to note that after the Soviet Union ceased to exist, and even in the last years of the USSR's existence, we were ready (the President of Russia also reminded us of this today) for cooperation, but for one that would ensure equality and a balance of interests. The West, believing that it had won the Cold War, set out to dominate everywhere. Then, for the last couple of years of the last century, we were inside structures that were Euro-Atlantic in nature. The Russia-NATO Council was formed in the late 1990s, and there was an extensive mechanism for our interaction with the European Union: two summits annually, four common spaces, and a large number of joint projects. Of course, the OSCE (despite its name) was also a product of the concept of the Euro-Atlantic dimension of security. All these and other structures that were in one way or another "tied" to the Euro-Atlantic region have proved their inadequacy as a result of the US policy of subordinating everything and everything to its will.

Europe has also become one of the victims of such a policy. It lost its independence. In this sense, security, as something that can be achieved and desired in the Euro-Atlantic context, is no longer relevant for us. As President Vladimir Putin said, we want to strive to ensure security in Eurasia. This is logical. Because we are on the same continent, no oceans, no English channels separate us.

There are already a number of integration associations on this continent. Many of them deal with security issues. I am referring to the CSTO, the CIS, the SCO, and economic structures such as the EAEU and ASEAN. All of them work in a single Eurasian space. In 2015, at the first Russia-ASEAN Summit in Sochi, President Vladimir Putin proposed thinking about harmonising integration processes on our continent in the context of the formation of the Greater Eurasian Partnership.

In addition to the organisations I have mentioned, there are other integration organisations working here, including in South Asia and in the Persian Gulf – the Cooperation Council for Arab States. The Arab League is also largely "seizing" the Eurasian continent.

As the President of Russia said today, this is the Greater Eurasian Partnership. If it focuses on economic, transport and financial chains that are independent of the dictates of the United States and its satellites, then this will form a kind of socio-economic and material foundation for the security system that we want to build. President Vladimir Putin emphasised that it is open to all countries and organisations of the Eurasian continent without exception. This, of course, also implies a door that is open to Europe, to those European countries that will finally understand that it is important for them to link their future destinies with the realization of the fundamental interests of their peoples, and not with the "servicing" of the United States of America, which has "crushed" the entire "collective West."

The tasks set relate primarily to the formation of a concretized concept of the Greater Eurasian Partnership and Eurasian security in all its dimensions: military-political, economic, and humanitarian. As you know, in response to the West's attempts to usurp international sport and international culture, a number of events are already being held on our continent that will have a Eurasian and even to a certain extent global context. I am referring to the Games of Future, the BRICS Games that opened in Kazan, the upcoming Friendship Games, the Forum of United Cultures, and the Intervision International Song Contest.

At the initiative of the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the International Russian Language Organization was established. This will also be an essential element in holding together the Eurasian continent, where many people, countries and peoples know and love the Russian language and Russian culture.

As for Ukraine, I have nothing to add here. President of Russia Vladimir Putin enumerated all the gestures of goodwill (to a certain extent even with elements of concessions) that we have taken since the Maidan and the coup d'état in February 2014.

Now we have come to a situation where President of Russia Vladimir Putin has once again called on you to listen to us, because over the past ten years, every time the West has refused our proposals, nothing good has come of it.

Question: President of Russia Vladimir Putin has formulated clear conditions for the transition to peace talks on Ukraine. How does the Russian Foreign Ministry, for its part, plan to implement these provisions in a practical sense, and should we expect any contacts, especially given the legitimacy status of the current government in Ukraine?

Sergey Lavrov: President Vladimir Putin has also set out in detail the aspect of legitimacy. This is not the first time he has addressed this topic. Everything is clear there. When the President of Russia touched on this topic earlier, he said that the final decision must be made within the political and legal framework of Ukraine. These conclusions will be made by any lawyer who has familiarized himself with the Ukrainian constitution. If this signal has not yet been heard by anyone, it means that we are once again disappointed in our Western partners.

As for the role of the Russian Foreign Ministry. We are not going to run after anyone. Our ambassadors in the respective capitals will hand over the text of President Putin's speech and further explain what is meant (including the background to this situation). Let's expect a reaction. I have no doubt that the countries of the world majority understand all this. I spoke in detail with many of their representatives on the Ukrainian issue, including with the participants of the BRICS Plus Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Nizhny Novgorod on June 11. They all understand this very well.

As for those who make decisions. They are now in Italy for a meeting of the Group of Seven. Vladimir Zelensky is also "walking" around somewhere. Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow it is not clear in what composition, at what level this "event" will be in Switzerland. I hope that President Vladimir Putin's speech will give them something to talk about.

Question (retranslated from English): As you know, there will be elections in France soon. Can you tell us how you monitor the situation? What do you expect? What do you hope for?

Sergey Lavrov: Of course, we are following the political developments in the countries where we have our diplomatic missions. They inform us about the domestic and international agenda of the respective countries, just as the French, American and other ambassadors to Russia inform their capitals about what is happening in our country.

As for my expectations. I have not expected anything from anyone for a long time, including from leading European countries. I feel sorry for them. As President Vladimir Putin noted in his speech today, they are not independent. French President Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly declared "strategic autonomy." But look at what happens in real life.

Question (retranslated from English): President Vladimir Putin's proposals for peace are based on the fact that Ukraine should follow Russia's proposed conditions. But shouldn't Russia take the first step and withdraw its troops from the territory of Ukraine?

Sergey Lavrov: Did you listen to the President? Twice, in the middle and at the end of his speech, he said that he did not want to repeat the sequence of events. His speech will be widely distributed, it will be displayed there.

I think that if you read the speech, you will understand that Russia did everything possible on the basis of the agreements reached, which were destroyed at the behest of Boris Johnson and a number of other politicians.

Question (retranslated from English): If Ukraine agrees to the conditions of the Russian side, will Russia stop hostilities? Why should the West trust you?

Sergey Lavrov: We are not asking the West to trust us. Trust does not reflect the position and actions of the West. Many examples have been given today. I do not want to repeat myself about unfulfilled obligations, including those of a legal nature.

To be honest, it does not matter to us whether the West trusts us or not. They must understand the real situation. They understand nothing but real politics. Let them turn to their people. They have democracy. Let them ask people what they should do in response to Vladimir Putin's proposals.

Question: If we do not need the West to believe us, then we are now putting forward a proposal. Let's say they agree, we withdraw the troops...?

Sergey Lavrov: I will interrupt. I will not guess on coffee grounds. I think you yourself understand that now there is no point in saying "what if". They have already said.

Question: But can we believe that they will not "cheat" us again?

Sergey Lavrov: Of course, we cannot. Therefore, everything was formulated as it was formulated. We are ready to resolve this issue on the terms that the President of Russia has announced. Only when we understand that these conditions are met, at the same moment, he said, will we stop fighting.

Question: Do we plan to send the initiative to the UN in any form and through what channels will President Vladimir Putin's proposals be transmitted to Ukraine, if any?

Sergey Lavrov: I think that everyone is already reading these proposals and everyone knows everything. The genre of the President's speech does not imply the publication of this document as an official proposal, initiative.

This is already a technique. I'm not at all interested in how this will be spread. Everyone already knows this. And we'll see the reaction.

Question: If I am not mistaken, the last contacts with the head of US diplomacy were in January 2022, when, according to you, the Americans ignored all our proposals. A special military operation has been going on for two years. At the moment, as of today, are there any needs and desires on the American side to contact our Foreign Ministry at the official level?

Sergey Lavrov: I cannot know about the desires, let alone the needs of the American side, in all senses of these words.

Question: Don't you think that the proposals to start peace talks are more like an ultimatum to surrender?

Sergey Lavrov: This is not a very correct question.

President Vladimir Putin drew your attention to the fact that he wants to reproduce the whole picture once again. We supported the document preserving the territorial integrity of Ukraine within the borders of 1991, which was on February 21, 2014. Former President Barack Obama called Vladimir Putin and asked him not to destroy this agreement. When we supported it, a coup d'état took place in the morning. If it had not existed, Ukraine would now be living within the borders of 1991.

Then the regions that refused to recognize the results of the bloody anti-constitutional coup d'état were declared terrorists. The war went on for a year. With our assistance, when everyone asked us (Germans, French), the Minsk agreements were signed, according to which Ukraine retained its territorial integrity, but without Crimea. I can go on for a long time.

President Vladimir Putin has stated all this very correctly. I think that you are a person with an analytical mindset, and you will probably be able to draw conclusions whether this is an ultimatum or not. Only if you write that this is an ultimatum, please do not forget the story of the transition to this stage. Your reports often talk about cancel culture, when you draw a conclusion, but you don't talk about the root causes. [My Emphasis]

You can always tell who the presstitutes are. Lavrov highlighted a few key points from Putin’s speech, the most important during the Q&A. The #1 problem is the West’s BigLie Narrative about the entire affair—indeed, everything from 1989 onward. Another main point made was the Outlaw US Empire being the main enemy of Europe, and indeed the whole world. As China has said very forcefully on several occasions in the last two months, it will implement the Global Security Initiative, which is the same as Putin’s proposal for Eurasia. For Russia to be an actor in that process, it must do what it can to solve the Ukraine issue. Also, Putin’s using the same sort of divide and rule tactic in telling Europeans that Russia doesn’t want to see them excluded from something that’s best for them. And I doubt any G-7 participant will read Putin’s legal brief as they already have their minds made up to do what they’re going to do. Will Putin’s speech affect any of the remaining elections? Maybe, but how will be know?

And of course, Putin’s speech’s context goes beyond Ukraine to the overall conflict between Russia and the Outlaw US Empire. Putin floated the idea that Russia will arm the West’s adversaries and Medvedev said Hell Yeah! The next item I have in store for the Gym touches on that contextual aspect.

*
*
*
Like what you’ve been reading at Karlof1’s Substack? Then please consider subscribing and choosing to make a monthly/yearly pledge to enable my efforts in this challenging realm. Thank You!