SEOUL, January 19. /TASS/. South Korea does not wish for Russia's strategic defeat in the special military operation, unlike many Western countries, as Seoul has not lost touch with reality, newly appointed Russian Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Georgy Zinoviev said to Russian journalists.
"There is a significant difference between our detractors in the West and how they view what is happening in the Republic of Korea. In my opinion, South Korea does not want to see Russia defeated and destabilized, does not crave 'regime change,' and seeing Russia turned into a Western puppet and a banana republic," he explained. This is one of the factors that has led Moscow to consider South Korea as 'one of the friendliest among the unfriendly countries.'"
He said keeping Russia among the world's leading powers, as a "strong and friendly neighbor of the Korean Peninsula" would be beneficial for Seoul. "It seems to me that they would not like to see Russia defeated, unlike [EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy] Josep Borrell, maybe because people here have not lost touch with reality. They understand perfectly well that there will be no defeat, but something resembling the diametrically opposite result," the envoy emphasized. And preparations for this prospect should be made, both politically and economically, Zinoviev concluded.