MOSCOW, September 25. /TASS/. The West will not allow the Ukrainian leadership to engage in fair talks with Russia based on the UN Charter, as the government in Kiev does not represent the entire nation since it rose to power in a coup d'etat, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with TASS ahead of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly.
"Just as colonial powers did not represent the peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, those who came to power in Ukraine following the coup d'etat declared their intention to ban the Russian language as their first act, certainly not representing Crimea, Donbass, or Novorossiya. This is the main reason why the West is unwilling to pressure the Ukrainian leadership into fair negotiations that honor the principles of the UN Charter. The Charter emphasizes the need to respect human rights regardless of gender, race, language, or religion, even before addressing territorial integrity," Lavrov said.
"Now, we are told that the main thing in today's world is to ensure the territorial integrity of Ukraine, which is a very sly interpretation of the Charter," the minister continued. "That's right, territorial inviolability is mentioned in the Charter. But before this inviolability, the right of peoples to self-determination is also mentioned. Afterwards, the General Assembly decided that the territorial inviolability of all those countries whose governments represent all the people living in the country should be respected," the minister continued.
Lavrov also recalled that human rights, including language and religious freedoms, were the "banner of the West" in international affairs. "Now the Western-fed Zelensky Nazi regime has banned both language and religious rights of a great part of its own population, so the banners that the West has been exalting for long decades have all disappeared somewhere. The only thing they say is: 'We must ensure Ukraine's victory, because it is fighting for European values.' But I think there is no need to even comment on the extent to which these values comply with the UN Charter," the Russian diplomat concluded.