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Peace initiatives must address plight of national minorities in Ukraine — Lavrov

According to the Russia's top diplomat, it is indicative that even now, when numerous initiatives on the Ukrainian settlement are being put forward, few think about Kiev's violation of human rights and national minorities

UNITED NATIONS, July 16. /TASS/. Russia calls on all those who come forward with peace proposals on Ukraine to take into account the situation with the rights of all national minorities, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"We urge all those who show sincere interest in overcoming the crisis in Ukraine to take into account in any of their proposals the key issue of the rights of national minorities, all of them without exception. Hushing it up devalues peace initiatives, and [Vladimir] Zelensky's racist policy is in fact being endorsed," Lavrov told the debate on ‘Multilateral cooperation in the interest of a more just, democratic and sustainable world order’.

According to Lavrov, it is indicative that even now, when numerous initiatives on the Ukrainian settlement are being put forward, few think about Kiev's violation of human rights and national minorities. "None of this is included in the above initiatives. It is only recently that EU documents on the start of talks on Ukraine's accession have formulated the relevant requirement, mainly due to the principled and persistent position of Hungary. However, the real possibilities and desires of Brussels to influence the Kiev regime cause doubt," the Russian foreign minister added.

"It is characteristic that in 2014, 10 years ago, Zelensky said, quote: ‘If people in eastern Ukraine and Crimea want to speak Russian, leave them alone, let them speak Russian on legal grounds. Language will never divide our native country.’ End quote. Since then, Washington has successfully re-educated him and already in 2021 Zelensky in one of his interviews demanded that those who feel involved in Russian culture, go away to Russia," Lavrov said.

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