MOSCOW, January 31. /TASS/. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's message on Ukraine, handed over by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, contains only calls on Russia to "quit and stop," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a media conference following talks with his Egyptian counterpart on Tuesday.
"Mr. Minister, while answering the previous question, said that he had conveyed a certain message from Secretary of State Blinken, who was recently on a visit to Cairo. I confirm this," Lavrov said, answering a question from TASS. "Russia is ready to listen to any serious proposal that is aimed at resolving the current situation in its comprehensive context."
"We have had one more message Egypt’s foreign minister has handed over to us to the effect that Russia should stop, that Russia should quit, and then everything will be fine," Lavrov went on to say, adding that at the same time "Blinken omitted something."
"The other part of the message, showing the true interest of the United States and the West, was stated by NATO Secretary General Mr. [Jens] Stoltenberg, when he was in the Republic of Korea yesterday," Lavrov noted. "He said in one of his speeches that Russia must lose, must be defeated, and that the West cannot afford to let Ukraine lose, because in that case, he argued, the West will lose and the whole world will lose." Stoltenberg, as Lavrov pointed out, "took the liberty of speaking not only on behalf of the North Atlantic Alliance, but also on behalf of all other countries of the world."
"Everything is quite clear here. It’s not about Ukraine at all," Lavrov emphasized. "The Kiev regime, which has no independence, fulfills the will of the sovereign - the United States and the rest of the West, which Washington has subjugated - not permit any events in the international arena that would somehow call into question the US claims to hegemony in the modern world."