Western weapon supplies will spur Russia to push forward, foreign minister says
The use of Western-supplied heavy weapons by Kiev will only force Russia to move deeper into Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told RT and Sputnik on Wednesday.
Lavrov told RT Editor-in-Chief, Margarita Simonyan that when negotiators met in Istanbul, Turkey on March 29-30, they were discussing “one geography,” referring to the areas controlled by Russia and the forces of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR).
“Our willingness to accept Ukrainian suggestions was based on the geography as of the end of March, 2022,” the minister noted.
“Now the geography is different. We’re not talking about the DPR, the LPR. We’re talking about Kherson Region, Zaporozhye Region and a number of other territories, and this process is ongoing.”
Lavrov accused the West of exacerbating the conflict by “pumping” Ukraine with heavy weapons, including M142 HIMARS multiple rocket launchers and long-range munitions.
“It means that we will have to put the line even further,” he said, adding that Moscow will not allow Ukrainian troops to threaten either Russia, or the Donbass republics.
During its offensive, Russian and allied troops captured parts of southern Ukraine and pushed Ukrainian troops out of many towns in Donbass. The peace talks, meanwhile, have remained stalled since March, as Western politicians say that Kiev should not be pressured into giving up territory to Moscow.
The Russian Embassy in Washington released a statement on Wednesday, saying that people living in Russian-controlled areas will “decide on their future independently, by themselves.”
RT (Russia Today) is a state-owned news organization funded by the Russian government. The information provided by this news source is being included by the Libertarian Hub not as an endorsement of the Russian government, but rather because it is being actively censored by Big Tech, Western governments and the corporate press. During times of conflict it is imperative that we have access to both sides of the story so we can form our own opinions, even if both sides are spewing their own propaganda. The censorship of RT, despite likely being a propaganda outfit for the Russian government, reduces our ability to hear one side of the conflict. For that reason, the Libertarian Hub will temporarily republish the RSS feed from RT. Visit https://rt.com
