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Military operation in Ukraine

Citizens to decide future of Ukraine territories where Russia conducts operation — Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister stressed that an absolute priority is to liberate the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics

MOSCOW, May 29. /TASS/. The future of Ukrainian territories, where Russia is carrying out special military operation, should be decided by their citizens, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with France’s TF1 television channel on Sunday.

"As for other territories, where people live who don’t want to cut ties with Russia, it’s up to the citizens of these regions to decide. I don’t think that they will be happy to be again led by the neo-Nazi regime, which has revealed its fully Russophobe nature. It’s up to people themselves to decide," Lavrov said.

Lavrov stressed that an absolute priority is to liberate the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, which have been recognized by Russia as independent states.

"In other Ukrainian territories where the military operation is conducted, the citizens of these regions should decide their future. They should make up their mind in which environment they should live: the one created by President Vladimir Zelensky with the ban on Russian education, mass media, culture and the use of the Russian language in everyday life or in another one, where they will be able to educate their children the way they want to, not Zelensky and his team," he stated.

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Sergey Lavrov Military operation in Ukraine

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