Today's Lavrov Presser: Q&As Only

After talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Republic of Yemen Shah al-Zindani, a presser was held where Lavrov delivered the usual boilerplate news of cooperation, trade and the future outlook for relations. Far more informative were the answers Lavrov gave to the questions raised:

Question: How can you comment on the Ukrainian demands mentioned in The Guardian to obtain permission to use Storm Shadow missiles to strike Moscow and St Petersburg in order to force Moscow to negotiate?

Sergey Lavrov: This is blackmail. This is an attempt to pretend that the West wants to avoid excessive escalation. In fact, this is cunning. He does not want to avoid escalation and, speaking in Russian, runs into trouble.

It seems to me that this is already obvious to everyone. I recently quoted a statement by White House National Security Adviser John Kirby. A couple of months ago, he said that escalation is dangerous, because it is highly undesirable to bring the matter to a world war, because Europe will suffer because of it. Recently, John Kirby repeated this again. Americans unequivocally associate talk about World War III as something (which, God forbid, if it comes true) can affect only Europe. This is an indicative moment that reflects the mentality of American "planners", geostrategists, who are convinced that they will "sit it it out". In this situation, it is probably important to understand that we have our own doctrine, including the doctrine of the use of nuclear weapons. It is now being clarified. And American "figures" are well aware of it. They are breaking through according to Freud, saying that World War III is bad because they do not want Europe to suffer. That's the whole American mentality. This is the mentality of the owner who sits on the "other" bank, convinced of his safety, that not only Ukrainians will do dirty work and die for him, but, as it turns out, now also Europeans.

We have been hearing this speculation for a long time about allowing the use of not only Storm Shadow, but also American long-range missiles. In Washington, an anonymous source said that such work is underway. Ukraine's request, they say, is generally viewed in a positive way. I will not add anything more here. President of Russia Vladimir Putin said everything a long time ago.

Now we confirm once again that playing with fire (they are like little children playing with matches) is a dangerous thing for adult "uncles" and "aunts" who are entrusted with nuclear weapons in this or that Western country.

Question: What do you think about the situation with the detention of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France? Was there at least some reaction from Paris to the Russian note? Is the Russian Foreign Ministry considering refusing to use the platform if Pavel Durov cooperates with the French investigation? How do you think this will affect bilateral relations between Moscow and Paris?

Sergey Lavrov: I will start from the end. Relations between Moscow and Paris are at a low point, including due to France's position on freedom of speech, the dissemination of information and, in general, respect for the profession of journalists.

Long before the current events, many years ago, when the Ukrainian crisis did not enter a hot phase, we faced a problem due to the fact that the French authorities refused to accredit RT and Sputnik. We have repeatedly appealed to the relevant services of the Elysee Palace and conveyed our concerns to French President Emmanuel Macron's aides. The answer was adamant: RT and Sputnik are not media outlets, but state propaganda tools. This is only one characteristic of the attitude of our French colleagues to freedom of speech and the media.

Moreover, in 1990, when it seemed that "the end of history" had come, in the words of F. Fukuyama, the OSCE approved (at the initiative of France) a special declaration with a solemn promise to ensure 100% free access to any information both on its territory and to that originating from the territory of other OSCE member states – the Charter of Paris for a New Europe – to the accompaniment of general rejoicing. As long as the USSR was in a state of disintegration, and as long as the Russian Federation was in the state it was in in the early to mid-1990s, the West insisted that this "sacred" obligation be observed, first of all, by our country. Then, when we returned to our own history, national identity, our roots and began to promote our own interests in the international arena, the West began to "steer" from this obligation. Now in the OSCE, we are the only ones reminding ourselves of this commitment – to ensure access to information at home and abroad. All the others adopted laws, special instructions, including the one that P.V. Durov is accused of violating. Although some Belgian company that regulates the application of this EU law denies that it complained about anyone. There are a lot of absurd things there.

France's reaction to freedom of speech has long been known to us. The relationship, as I said, is worse than ever. And through no fault of ours. Both in NATO and in the European Union, President Emmanuel Macron is among the leaders in toughening policy towards Russia, increasing military assistance to Ukraine, and ensuring the victory of the Nazi regime of Vladimir Zelensky on the battlefield. You see it. There is nothing to add here.

As for our specific actions. Our diplomatic note is under consideration. We are waiting for an answer to it. As you probably know, the United Arab Emirates is dealing with the same issue. They also have a group of lawyers who have asked for immediate access to Pavel Durov.

As for the use of this platform, it is convenient, truly protected. At least, if anyone had any doubts about this, now that Pavel Durov was clearly taken away on someone's advice and threatened with a terrible punishment, apparently hoping to gain access to the encryption codes, the actions of the French have proven that Telegram is really a reliable and popular network.

We also had questions for Telegram in previous years. But it was exclusively about legal cases that were considered in accordance with the law and resolved. There was never any question of any attempts to restrict the freedom of Pavel Durov or his team. But he himself has repeatedly said that he will not make any compromises regarding the principles on which Telegram is based.

Question: Regarding the situation in the Middle East. Could you comment on the situation at the moment? Is there a chance that the parties will be able to agree on a ceasefire in the near future?

Sergey Lavrov: The minister and I have already expressed our assessments and comments on this topic. There is a strong impression that not everyone needs a ceasefire. Even more. Some participants in this process urgently need to continue hostilities, to maintain the situation in such a violent state in the hope of some changes in the political landscape of the world in the future. They directly mention the elections in the United States. They say that the Israeli leadership wants to wait for the news from Washington in early November of this year, in the hope that this news will relieve the burden of pressure on Israel from the world community in favor of stopping this terrible operation, which continues in the Gaza Strip in violation of international humanitarian law and has already claimed more than 40 thousand civilian lives. children and the elderly.

I have already cited statistics. I would not like it to be forgotten. This happened in 10 months - 40 thousand people. Over the 10 years of the Ukrainian crisis after the coup d'état, half as many civilians have suffered on both sides in Donbass. 10 years and 10 months. I would like to emphasise once again that we, like all other countries, condemned the terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, but it is against the law to respond with collective punishment. This violates all the principles of international humanitarian law. Particularly depressing and outrageous are the statements made by the leaders of the Israeli armed forces after the start of this operation that there are no civilians "there." They say that starting from the age of three, everyone in the Gaza Strip is terrorists. This is the most dangerous mentality. Our Israeli partners should have avoided such statements, which smack of a completely different ideology, from which the Jews themselves suffer.

Question: Earlier, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky said in an interview with the Indian media that he would like to hold the next second peace summit on Ukraine in one of the countries of the Global South. Would Russia take part in such an event if it were really held in the countries of the Global South?

Sergey Lavrov: The next one is the one who continues some kind of initiative. There is only one "initiative" there. It began as the "Copenhagen format", then transformed into the Bürgenstock "conference". But the essence of all these processes is the absolutely unpromising and dead-end "peace formula" put forward by Vladimir Zelensky. Everything that is in the series of events promoting this "formula" as the only solution can only be viewed by "dreamers" in Ukraine, Kiev and the West as something that Russia will "bite" at.

We are talking about the game. They want to put us in a situation where we take the bait on something that suits Vladimir Zelensky. As President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said, we can talk about talks at which no one puts forward any ultimatums to anyone.

This was the case in February 2014, when Viktor Yanukovych, the then President of Ukraine, agreed with the opposition (under the guarantee of France, Germany and Poland) that they would create a government of national unity and hold national elections. In the morning, this honest agreement was destroyed by the opposition at the instigation of the United States and other Western countries, which immediately recognized the results of this bloody anti-constitutional coup d'état. If they had fulfilled this agreement, Ukraine would now be within the borders of 1991, including Crimea.

Then there was the agreement in Minsk in February 2015, approved by the UN Security Council. As you know, President of Ukraine Petr Poroshenko, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and then French President Francois Hollande admitted that none of them was going to comply with the UN Security Council decision. A decision approving the document under which their signatures stood. They needed to buy time. Then, too, there were honest negotiations in Minsk, where the presidents sat down for 17 hours, the chancellor discussed, agreed and agreed on everything. It was a balance of interests. They did not want to do this either. Now it is clear why.

Just like in Istanbul, they did not want to fulfill the agreement that was initialed. The reason for this is that neither the putschists in February 2014, nor Petr Poroshenko in February 2015, nor Vladimir Zelensky in April 2022 needed an honest agreement.

After all, not all people are so naïve in Ukraine. They understood that an ultimatum in our time, especially with Russia, is a completely meaningless thing. But there was only one calculation: the Anglo-Saxons and all sorts of Borrels in Brussels, Ursula von der Leyn, macrons from Paris unanimously said that Ukraine must defeat Russia on the battlefield and they are doing everything to make this happen. That is, the West is dissuading Ukraine from normal humane negotiations based on generally accepted principles and is doing everything to ensure that Ukraine continues to escalate (as they call it), in the hope that now more and more suspicions are appearing in this regard, so that we have a "breakdown" and we do something that will allow the West to "change the chessboard". It won't work.

We will achieve our goals and achieve them in the way that President Vladimir Putin said, which will meet our interests as much as possible: first, the savings of our people and, second, the protection of those people whom the fascist regime in Kiev has declared terrorists and deprived of basic rights, including the right to their religion, religion, language and much more. It will not be possible to provoke us. All these "Byrgenstocks" and "peace formulas" are from the devil.

If the West (this is not about Vladimir Zelensky) is really interested in normalising the situation in Europe, from which the Europeans themselves are groaning and suffering, then it should sit down at the negotiating table calmly, without any papers in hand called the "Vladimir Zelensky formula" and start talking honestly. The President of Russia confirmed that we were ready for this. I have just cited three examples when we supported such talks. But now, having lied three times, who will believe you. But we'll see. They must draw conclusions. [My Emphasis]

In many respects the Q&As remain the same as they were back in December 2021 with a few modifications. The genuine profane nature of the Zionist Project is finally unsheathed for all Humanity to view and differs none from 1948 and that Era’s terrorists who remain the Zionists. That NATO led by the Outlaw US Empire aide the Zionists in their Project has also revealed its true nature to the world as if its behavior since WW2 wasn’t enough. We also see how weak and vulnerable the Outlaw US Empire’s military is as it must use proxies instead of its own troops which are busy occupying the close to 1000 global bases. To fight Russia in Ukraine, the Empire would need to vacate all its bases to supply the manpower needed for such a confrontation, but then that would allow Japan and South Korea to free themselves. But how would the logistical train function on an ocean populated by many Russian submarines and long-range anti-ship missiles, and with what merchant marine and USN supply ships? What Europeans are willing to step into Ukraine’s shoes to fight for Black Rock and other Neoliberal financial corps who want to be the new landowners within Ukraine? And with what would they fight? Do the Americans really think the Turks, who have the largest NATO military in Eurasia, will fight Russia? Erdogan wants to join BRICS and SCO and is making peace with Iraq and Syria. Sevastopol’s been targeted by NATO, so that would make Norfolk and its aircraft carriers a proper target for a Russian hypersonic volley.

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