ISTANBUL, October 18. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's 'Victory Plan' reflects his intention to play on the West's desire to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said following a meeting within the 3+3 regional platform on South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, Turkey, and Iran).
"We will not accept any option for Ukraine to remain in a position when it is used by the West in order to impose direct threats to Russia. The realities on the ground will be considered as the West will advance its concepts, torn between supporting Zelensky and realizing the dead-end nature of this line," Lavrov said. "Well, you see, the ‘Victory Plan’ comprises the essence of Zelensky’s desires. He wants to win. He wants to play on the fact that the West is still threatening to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia on the ground. That is the difference in the approach - purely psychological and political."
"We proceed from the fact that everyone well knows Russia's position, Russian President Vladimir Putin outlined it while delivering his speech at the Foreign Ministry this June," the foreign minister said. "But I would like to remind once again: every time Russia shows goodwill and supports specific negotiating solutions and particular agreements, it is Ukraine that is breaching all of them. It continues since February 2014, when the agreement between the [Ukrainian] president and the opposition was breached the next morning [it was reached] and a coup d etat began. Then, as you all know, there were the Minsk agreements, which, as the Ukrainian and Western participants admitted, they were not going to implement. Another lost opportunity."
The Russian Foreign Minister also recalled the April 2022 Istanbul peace deal proposed to stop hostilities and appease the situation between Russia and Ukraine on the basis of fair security guarantees and interests of both Russia and Ukraine. "This agreement, supported by our side, was violated by Kiev." "And every time another agreement was blown up, undermined, or violated by the Ukrainian side, Ukraine lost its territory. Each time it is getting smaller."
The realities
Everything Russian President Vladimir Putin said in June should now be treated considering the realities on the ground, Lavrov emphasized.
"Our position is clear. No NATO membership, neutral status, solution of the problems of the Russian-speaking population, deprived of the right to do anything in its native language in flagrant violation of the UN Charter, and numerous conventions," the foreign minister pointed out. "The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is being destroyed - also in violation of the UN Charter and numerous conventions."
Incompetence
Lavrov recalled former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich and the opposition’s signing of the agreement on February 2014. It envisaged holding early elections within 5-6 months. "A government of national unity was created for this period of time, as recorded and secured by the signatures of the parties," the Russian Foreign Minister stressed. "When the putschists took it to the Maidan the morning after the military coup, they declared, 'Congratulate us, we have formed a government of winners.’
"That is, they have been striving for victory for a long time, but the result, I think, will remain the same," the Russian foreign minister summarized.