Russia’s foreign minister sat down with Sputnik on the eve of the new year to discuss the most difficult problems facing Moscow and the planet, from the conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East to global strategic security.
Ukrainian officials accused of war crimes will be tried and punished in accordance with the law, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has assured Sputnik.
“An investigation into the Kiev regime’s crimes is already underway,” Lavrov said, when asked about the regime’s fate after Russia achieves the goals of its special military operation. “Russian law enforcement bodies are carefully recording and documenting the atrocities committed by Ukrainian neo-Nazis, and aren’t limiting themselves to the period of the special military operation. The suffering of the civilian population of the Donbass began much earlier, in 2014. Those responsible will be brought to justice.”
The foreign minister specified work by Russia’s Investigative Committee probing more than 4,000 criminal cases brought against roughly 900 individuals, including neo-Nazi leaders, Ukrainian security service personnel, and mercenaries, plus “representatives of Ukraine’s military and political leadership,” some of them charged in absentia and placed on an international wanted listing.
“Based on evidence collected by the Investigative Committee, Russian courts have already sentenced more than 200 representatives of Ukraine’s Armed Forces to long prison terms for atrocities committed. The same fate awaits all other criminals. Each of them shall receive just retribution,” Lavrov said.
Gaza Crisis
Turning to the crisis in Gaza, which began on October 7 with Hamas' attack on southern Israel and escalated into a major humanitarian crisis in the besieged Palestinian territory, Lavrov reiterated Russia’s support for Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, and pointed to the issues standing in the way.
“One of the obstacles getting in their way remains the lack of Palestinian unity,” he said, referring to the conflict between Hamas and the Palestinian Liberation Organization in the West Bank.
“We support the actions of our partners, in particular Egypt and Algeria, aimed at solving this problem. For our part, we are also helping our Palestinian friends to find solutions, providing them with a platform in Russia for meetings. We are encouraging the Palestinian Liberation Organization to unite on a political platform, and are explaining the danger of division for the prospects of creating a Palestinian state,” Lavrov noted.
Moscow’s proposals on the convening of multilateral consultations on the matter remain “on the table,” the Russian top diplomat stressed, adding that the recent, December 20 meeting of the Russian-Arab Cooperation Forum in Morocco confirmed a unity of opinions between Russia and the Arab World on the issue.
Attempted 'Maidanization' of Serbia
Asked further to comment on the political crisis which began brewing in Serbia after snap parliamentary elections earlier this month, which Serbian authorities have characterized as an attempted "Maidanization" of the Balkan nation, Lavrov confirmed that Russia’s dialogue with Belgrade includes a focus on security cooperation, with Moscow “always ready to lend a shoulder to its Serbian friends.”
“What happened in Belgrade [last week, ed.] was another attempt to orchestrate the illegal seizure of power. Apparently, not everyone in the West is prepared to accept the fact that Serbia’s voters expressed support for President [Aleksandar] Vucic and his political course in the elections. The trend, frankly speaking, is not new, and it’s well known how such misadventures usually end. Suffice it to recall the February 2014 coup in Ukraine, which was incited by Washington and Brussels,” Lavrov said.
“In Serbia, people have not forgotten about this either, thanks in part to their own experience,” the Russian top diplomat added, alluding to the 2000 "Bulldozer Revolution" coup against Slobodan Milosevic. “Apparently, this is why the number of protesters is relatively small – only a few hundred people. People don’t trust [political] figures who talk about their opposition to violence, but in reality behave in the exact opposite way, ignoring the will of the people and provoke law enforcement.”
Moscow assesses the general situation in Serbia as “stable” at present, with the country’s leadership in firm control over the situation, “clearly understanding that that is where their national interest lies,” Lavrov said.
Bilateral Relations With the US
Asked to comment on the shifting political climate in the United States and the possibility of improved relations between Moscow and Washington in the event that a Republican wins next year’s presidential relations, Lavrov emphasized that Russia will continue to take a careful approach, regardless of who is in charge in the US.
“Our readiness to restore a full-fledged dialogue with the United States should not be taken for granted. Russian-American relations have been degraded to the limit thanks to Washington, which has doctrinally formalized the task of inflicting a ‘strategic defeat’ on Russia. While the White House remains wary of razing what remains of the relationship to the ground, the Americans clearly aren’t ready to conduct an honest dialogue based on mutual respect and consideration of one another’s interests,” the foreign minister stressed.
Accordingly, he said, arriving at a formula of peaceful coexistence and the possibility of cooperation in some areas will be possible “only after Washington recognizes our fundamental national interests and begins to negotiate in earnest. Meanwhile, ruling circles in the US deny the realities of a multipolar world and continue to think in terms of their own superiority and exclusivity.”
“The American political establishment, regardless of party affiliation, sees Russia as an enemy and an existential threat. Given the existing cross-party consensus on this issue, it would be naive to hope for an improvement in relations if a Republican candidate were to win. By and large, we don’t care who wins the race for the US presidency,” Lavrov emphasized.
Arms Control
Finally, asked about the issue of strategic arms control, including the possibility of Russia reconsidering its unilateral moratorium on the deployment of ground-based nuclear missiles in the 500 to 5,500 km range, Lavrov stressed that an “unambiguous signal” in this regard was embedded in the language of the moratorium itself.
“I would like to remind you that our commitment to this moratorium is strictly linked to the potential appearance of US ground-based intermediate-range missiles in the relevant regions” near Russia, Lavrov said. “Given the characteristics and peculiarities of the use of weapons of this class, the issue of their deployment by hostile countries is a very sensitive issue from the point of view of Russian national security. In the case of the United States, this aspect takes on special importance, given its direct relationship to other factors which influence strategic stability. It is obvious that the creation of additional missile-related risks by Washington will require us to take serious retaliatory measures,” he explained.
At the same time, Lavrov emphasized that “in the absence of extraordinary steps by the United States to increase the pressure exerted on us by other means, Russia will not be the first to deploy missile weapons which were previously prohibited under the INF [Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, ed.] Treaty. However, judging by the Pentagon’s preparations, it won’t be long before the Americans take practical steps to deploy ground-based intermediate-range missiles in various regions of the world. So the moment when we will have to make the necessary political decisions is in fact coming to a head,” the foreign minister summarized.
The United States unilaterally scrapped the INF Treaty in 2018. In 2020, it left the 1992 Treaty on Open Skies. Before that, in 2002, it pulled out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, prompting Moscow to dust off Soviet-era plans to develop a new class of hypersonic missiles. The Trump administration threatened to let the clock run out on the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) in early 2021, with the incoming Biden administration renewing it at the last minute. Moscow suspended its participation in New START earlier this year, citing US efforts to “inflict a strategic defeat” on Russia, including by targeting bases containing elements of its strategic deterrent by Washington’s Ukrainian proxies
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