Lavrov: The Current Russophobia in the West is a Verdict on Western Civilisation

The Russian Foreign Minister arrived at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations on Wednesday to comment on the most pressing issues affecting international politics, including the Ukraine crisis, and answer students' questions.

The current Russophobia in the West is a verdict on Western civilisation, Russian Foreign Minister Segey Lavrov said in his address to students at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

Speaking about the priorities of Russian foreign policy in view of the ongoing special military operation in Ukraine, Lavrov said that the prompt conclusion of Russia-Ukraine negotiations is not beneficial for the United States. According to him, Washington wants hostilities between Russia and Ukraine to continue as long as possible.

"It is difficult to shake the impression that our American colleagues are holding Kiev by the hand. If you read [the works of] political scientists, both ours and Western ones, the Americans simply proceed from the fact that it is unprofitable for them if this process is completed quickly. They expect to continue pumping weapons into Ukraine," Lavrov said.

He stressed that Russia is not against Western mediation in talks with Ukraine but there are certainly some red lines that should not be crossed.

When asked about the possibility of peacekeepers being deployed to Ukraine, the minister said that this could lead to a clash between Russian and NATO forces.

"Our Polish colleagues have already stated that there will be a NATO summit, and peacekeepers should be sent. I hope they understand what they are talking about. This will be the very direct clash between the Russian and NATO armed forces, which everyone did not just want to avoid, but said that it should not take place at all," Lavrov explained.

Commenting on the unprecedented sanctions imposed by the West on Russia after the beginning of the operation in Ukraine, Lavrov said these restrictions are aimed at removing Russia as an obstacle to a unipolar world.

"This all is about removing the obstacle in the form of Russia on the way to building a unipolar world... This is not about Ukraine, this is about a world order in which the United States wants to be the sole sovereign and dominate," Lavrov said.

According to the minister, the freezing of the Russian central bank's reserves by the West is 'just theft'.

Going back to the major goals of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, Lavrov said that concerns Moscow had about Kiev preparing an offensive in the Donbass region have proved reasonable.

"It looks that somebody has forgotten that Kiev had been amassing over 100,000 troops on the contact line and intensified shelling of the Donbass territories...We have documents proving that our concerns were not baseless: Ukraine was about to start its offensive on Donbass," Lavrov stressed.

Moscow will demand that Ukraine cancel legislation directed against the Russian-speaking population of the country, the Russian Foreign Minister added. He noted that under the presidency of Volodymyr Zelensky, all attempts to re-introduce Russian as a second official language in regions where it is spoken were shot down by lawmakers.