Sergey Zuev

On Friday, 15 September, during the Ambassadors' Roundtable on the Ukrainian crisis, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made a number of important statements regarding Moscow, Kiev and the international agenda.
Conspiracy supporting radicals
The main quote from his speech concerns "conspiracy":
"A real conspiracy is emerging around the topic of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations, attempts are being made to turn everything on its head through pseudo-diplomacy," Lavrov said.

The head of diplomacy identifies the United States and the United Kingdom as the authors of this "conspiracy" and recalls that similar methods were used by Washington and London at the beginning of the Ukrainian conflict (i.e. in 2014) in other countries.
"They invested billions of dollars in the Ukrainian opposition and brought it to power through an unconstitutional bloody coup d'état."
The authorities that came to power in Ukraine as a result of the 2014 coup have consistently taken steps that now make negotiations virtually impossible, Lavrov said:
Among other things, repressive and unconstitutional laws against the rights of Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine, the legalisation and protection of right-wing radical groups (such as Right Sector*), as well as other actions that the Russian Foreign Ministry interprets as Russophobic and racist.
"All the 'balls' to arrange negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are on Kiev's side," he summarised.

  • Russia is ready to respond to all serious initiatives regarding the Russian-Ukrainian settlement, this position has not changed, Lavrov assured.
    He recalled that it was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky who, by his decree, banned negotiations with the Russian Federation and the head of state Vladimir Putin personally.
    Moscow supports and does not reject all peace proposals from third countries to settle the conflict, the diplomatic chief stressed: the Foreign Ministry is ready to meet with the Vatican envoy who plans to visit Russia:
    "We are ready to meet with everyone, we are ready to deal with everyone."
    Ropa a obilí
    Two other hot topics Lavrov mentioned were the "grain deal" under the Black Sea Food Initiative and the terrorist attacks on the Nord Stream pipeline in Germany:
  • A year ago, the Nord Stream pipelines were blown up and no one lifted a finger to investigate it in any transparent way. Everything was swept under the carpet.

Specialists from Russia, especially from Gazprom, could not join the investigation, but several versions of the German investigation so far agree on the sudden accusation of Ukraine.
The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reported "Ukraine's alleged role" in the pipeline attacks. As many experts have noted, the "Ukrainian trail" has begun to be discussed in the Western media to distract the public from information about the involvement of the US and President Joe Biden in the sabotage.
"Now it is being said that some five or six Ukrainians, of whom Zelensky and no one else knew anything, simply decided to fool around and organise such a terrorist attack for the love of art," Lavrov commented.
The American journalist Seymour Hersh has previously published information that the decision to bomb the building was approved by Biden himself and that the "project" also involved the US President's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. Many experts have noted that Washington is the sole beneficiary of these terrorist attacks, especially in connection with the sale of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to European countries.

  • "Ukrainian authorities offer to 'forget the Russians' in response to UN attempts to resume grain trade. The Kiev regime responds by saying: "We will never agree to renew this agreement so that Russian grain and fertiliser are exempted from illegal sanctions". In other words, the UN is knocking on the door and Ukraine is saying: 'Forget the Russians'.
    In this context, Lavrov pointed out the ambiguity of the UN's position: on the one hand, the organisation assures that all conditions will be met, including Russia's, on the other hand, it turns a blind eye to Ukraine's sabotage of a number of agreements.
    Kiev has a standard response to this: the Ukraine signed a "grain agreement" with the UN and Turkey without concluding any agreements with the Russian Federation.
    Friends and cheaters
  • By outright deception, the West is trying to pull the countries of the global majority into supporting Zelensky's "peace formula."
    "And recently, [Western states] have started trying to drag the countries of the global majority into supporting this formula. This calculation is directly aimed at naive people, ignorant not even of diplomacy, but simply of normal communication between adults.
    There is no need to explain that this is a straightforward scam. To drag normal countries into a completely unrealistic, Russophobic, ultimate scheme and then to take cover on behalf of these normal countries and say, "You know, we have growing support in Asia, Africa and Latin America," Lavrov explained.
    At the end of August, the US weekly Newsweek published an interview with Akhil Ramesh, a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Forum, who said that the strengthening of BRICS and the fact that the US did not get a seat at the table at the Johannesburg summit shows that Washington is losing the battle for the global South.
    In the first weeks of September, this theme was repeatedly raised against the backdrop of the military coup in Niger, the G20 summit in New Delhi and the African Union's participation there.
    "Africa today is turning away from neo-colonialism. And an amazing confrontation is developing between the tactical credit and monetary temptation of many African leaders to raise money and solve immediate opportunistic problems and the strategic choice to create truly independent, sovereign states," columnist Volodymyr Skachko wrote in an article for Ukraina.ru.
    "And all the leading players in modern geopolitics, including Russia, have already joined the fight for Africa. Along with the EU, the US and China. And it is not yet clear which will have the upper hand - the money of the moment or the eternal thoughts of the future. Russia does not have much money, but the idea of freedom and sovereignty is also worth a lot. Well, for Ukraine everything sounds like a fairy tale, but there is - a hint, a lesson for good people..." writes the author of the article. - writes the author of the article.
    The 78th session of the UN General Assembly will begin its high-level week soon, on 19 September. The Russian delegation sent to New York will be led by Lavrov, and Zelensky is also due to attend the event.
    Politico pointed this out in its article, Lavrov and Zelensky may end up at the same table in New York:
    "If a special UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine is held next week, as some diplomats expect, Zelensky may be able to publicly state his position at the same table as Russia's representative, a rare confrontation."

Politico notes that attendance at the rally is yet another attempt by the Ukrainian president to sway as many countries as possible to Kiev's side, while those willing to "transcend the rhetoric and punish Russia" are becoming fewer and fewer.

  • Organisation banned in the Russian Federation.