MOSCOW, August 19. /TASS/. The West’s overall assistance to the Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky regime over the year of the special military operation exceeded 160 billion US dollars, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the International Affairs magazine.

"In terms of money, the West’s aggregate assistance to the Zelensky regime over the year of the special military operation exceeded 160 billion US dollar, including military aid of 75 billion US dollars," he said. "By the way, according to the estimates of the Washington-based The Heritage Foundation NGO, the United States has already allocated around 113 billion US dollars to Ukraine, or some 900 dollars from each household, plus 300 dollars as interests for servicing corresponding debt obligations. Huge sums, especially amid the difficult situation in the global economy."

According to the top Russian diplomat, round 50 countries of the so-called "Ramstein coalition" for military support for Ukraine "are actually involved in the armed conflict on the part of the Kiev regime, which does not hesitate to use terrorist fighting methods." "Large-scale weapons supplies, including cluster and long-range munitions, are being sent to Ukraine," he said. "NATO instructors take part in planning operations of the Ukrainian army, NATO intelligence data are being used."

Meanwhile, Western leaders keep on repeating like aa mantra that they will continue to help Kiev as long as it takes, Lavrov noted. "Of course, this is their choice and the Zelensky junta’s decision to go on fighting until the last Ukrainian," he went on. "But, historically, the United States cannot boast a good reputation in terms of supporting its allies." In this context, he recalled that the termination of the US military assistance to South Vietnam in 1973 and to the Ashraf Ghani regime in Afghanistan in 2021 ended up in the immediate fall of the authorities loyal to Washington. "And present-day Ukraine practically totally depends on Western money and weapons supplies," he stressed.

Course toward exhausting Russia

Lavrov noted that the west "is seeking to eliminate Russia as a serious geopolitical rival." "This is why Washington and Brussels have unleashed a hybrid war against us," he said. "And it is supplemented by the unprecedented sanction pressure. The Americans are using the carrot-and-stick policy in a bid to make our partners to refuse from economic and other cooperation with Russia." They don’t’ hesitate to resort to blatant sabotage, like in the case with the explosions at the Nord Stream gas pipelines running across the Baltic Sea, or taking efforts to remove Russia from the mechanisms of international cooperation in the areas of culture, education, science, and sports.

"Evidently, these and other aggressive measures are geared to weaken, exhaust Russia," Lavrov noted. "They are seeking to maximally drain out our economic, technological, and defense capacities, to limit our sovereignty and make us drop our independent foreign and domestic policy.".