Lavrov: Russia wants to settle the situation in Ukraine to save civilian lives

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia wants to resolve the situation around Ukraine as soon as possible, and the protection of civilians and the preservation of soldiers' lives is a priority.

According to the Russian "TASS" agency, Lavrov said, in an interview with the Big Game program: "Of course, perhaps the desire is to end this situation as soon as possible, to end this war that the West was preparing for and eventually unleashed against us through Ukraine, but the priority is For us, it is the lives of soldiers, and the lives of civilians who remain in the combat zone."

The minister noted that hundreds of US forces are now in Ukraine, and the US military attache's office provides direct advisory services to Kyiv.

"Dozens, maybe even hundreds, of US troops in Ukraine were there even before the coup," he said. "CIA officers controlled at least one floor of the Ukrainian Security Service."

According to Lavrov, there is also an important office of the US military attache in Kyiv.

"It is clear that military specialists are not only engaged in visits to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, but, of course, in one way or another, they provide direct advice, and perhaps more than advisory services," the Russian Foreign Minister noted.

Lavrov said that Russia has no particular desire to conduct dialogue with Western countries.

He said, "We now have very few opportunities to talk with the West, and in fact, there is no special desire when you read the statements of foreign ministers, prime ministers and presidents that it is necessary to deal with Europe's security against Russia. Previously they used to say without Russia and now they are saying against Russia."

Lavrov indicated that the United States has made it clear through diplomatic channels that it does not want and will not fight directly with Russia, nor does it plan to send its military specialists to Ukraine to manage the Patriot air defense systems.

He said, "We asked the Americans, through the channels that our embassy still has, whether the decision to transfer the Patriot battery, given the complexity of its use, means that there will be American specialists."

He continued: "This was explained to us very broadly so that it is not planned, precisely because the Americans do not want and will not fight directly against Russia. Patriot will be put into practice in a few months until the Ukrainian military masters this technology."

Lavrov noted that the United States is keen to resume inspections under the Strategic Offensive Reduction Treaty (START-3), but is not ready to act honestly.

He said, "They really want to do these inspections, they send us requests, and they really want to resume them all. We completely agree with their analysis that stability is not guaranteed by inspections. We simply apply this agreement, as this agreement states - I don't remember literally now - about the type of A new relationship based on mutual trust, mutual respect, cooperation and much more.

He added, "At the moment, they are all written off by the United States. We are actually called an enemy. There is no trust there."

According to him, Western sanctions undermine Russia's ability to conduct inspections in return.

Lavrov stressed that all the lands of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, as well as the Zaporozhye and Kherson provinces, which became part of Russia after the referendums, should be liberated.

In response to a request to clarify the borders in the four regions, Lavrov said: "I am of course talking about their borders within the Russian Federation according to the Russian constitution, and this, in my opinion, is clear."

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