MOSCOW, September 1. /TASS/. Ukrainian politicians are dabbling in verbal gymnastics, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday, adding their remarks on various historical topics, along with President Vladimir Zelensky’s snipe over Russian gas being "the dirtiest in the world" are made due to their lack of intelligence.
"[Our] Ukrainian colleagues now are now practicing verbal gymnastics: one day, they believe that Rus is their original name. […] The next day they believe that the Baptism of Rus is a truly Ukrainian holiday, and so on. This is sad. President Zelensky himself makes some remarks about our gas being the dirtiest in the world. In a nutshell, this comes from a lack of intelligence, to be honest," Lavrov insisted.
The top diplomat noted that Kiev is being led by a desire to artificially retain and ramp up Russophobic rhetoric and like-minded activity "in order to artificially keep the West’s position of support for the Ukrainian regime."
"This regime seeks to play on the obvious intention of the West to use all kinds of methods, and all kinds of actions in order to rock Russia off balance, to destabilize it, to distract it from solving the most important problems that we are facing, and, probably, to inhibit our foreign policy somewhat," Lavrov continued. "The Ukrainian regime’s gamble on this, is obvious to everyone. After backing it once, the West is not entirely comfortable with throwing away this bid instantaneously. It has obviously failed, this comprehension is coming, but it has not been reflected in practical steps yet."
During his meeting with the US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm in Washington, Zelensky claimed that the Russian gas is "the dirtiest in the world" due to alleged significant emissions of methane during extraction and transportation, as well as due to "corruption, blackmailing and manipulation."
According to Ukrainian Gas Transit System Operator, the transit of the Russian gas through Ukraine receded to 55.8 cubic meters in 2020, which is the lowest number in 30 years. This means that the Ukrainian gas transit system is loaded for less than 30%.