Ukraine controlled by US and UK - Russia

RT
Tue, 17 May 2022 16:02 UTC

© Getty Images/Pool

UK PM Boris Johnson • US President Joe Biden • March 24, 2022

London and Washington have been exercising their control over the Ukrainian negotiators with the aim of dragging out the conflict, and this policy has led to the suspension of peace talks between Moscow and Kiev, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed on Tuesday.

Speaking at the New Horizons educational marathon, Lavrov said that Ukraine may have made its own decision in Istanbul, when it came up with some "acceptable principles for reaching agreements" during negotiations with Russia. However, according to the minister, these ideas were apparently not supported by the West.

"We have information coming through various channels that Washington and especially London 'lead' the Ukrainian negotiators and control their freedom of maneuver. They want to drag out the conflict, and it seems to them that the longer it will last, the more damage they will inflict on Russian servicemen."

The foreign minister doubts, however, that "transferring the conversation to the level of Washington or London" would be able to change anything in terms of the progress. "Anyway, neither London, nor Washington, nor the West as a whole has put forward any proposals," Lavrov said.

Lavrov cited remarks by the EU, UK and US officials who have said on multiple occasions, that Russia should not be allowed to win in the Ukrainian conflict including Ukraine. The West actually acknowledged:

"Ukraine is expendable in a hybrid total war against the Russian Federation. The war was declared by them. And not at all between Ukraine and Russia, but between the West and Russia."

Earlier on Tuesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said that diplomatic dialogue between Moscow and Kiev had been completely suspended after Kiev withdrew from negotiations without providing any response to the latest Russian proposals.

A Ukrainian presidential adviser, Mikhail Podolyak, later confirmed that "after the Istanbul communiqué [in March], there have been no changes, no progress."

Russia attacked the neighboring state in late February, following Ukraine's failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow's eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German- and French-brokered protocols were designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.

The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.

Comment: Germany has an independence crisis. Is it aware?

One can hardly refer to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as an "offended liverwurst," considering that when Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andrey Melnik called him that, Scholz didn't appear offended at all, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.

The minister was referring to a series of exchanges between Kiev and Berlin over the Ukrainian government's refusal to welcome German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier for a state visit in April. Scholz responded by declining to come as well, and the Ukrainian ambassador resorted to name calling in retaliation.

Lavrov, when asked by a student of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations about the diplomatic spat during an educational event, said:

"His boorishness has long become notorious. Politicians in Germany who have kept their dignity have drawn attention to him on multiple occasions. Scholz was not offended by it, so the word 'offended' can be removed from this formula."

Lavrov assessed that, under the current government, "Germany relinquished the last traces of independence" from the US. He also said the same was true for most of the European nations, with the exception of France, where President Emmanuel Macron "is still talking about the strategic independence of the EU. I am certain they will not be allowed to have it," he added.

The EU is turning into an organization indistinguishable from NATO in terms of its US-determined goal, policies, and even membership, the Russian minister said, referring to the proposed inclusion of Sweden and Finland into the military bloc.

Ukrainian officials would continue to get away with insulting Europeans just as easily as they were getting away with harboring radical nationalists and open neo-Nazis in the ranks of their troops. But, ultimately the West considers Ukraine "expendable" as long as it serves its goals of undermining Russia.

Lavrov argued that Washington ramped up its confrontation with independent-thinking nations after China managed to "beat it" at its own game. Beijing became more successful than Washington by playing by the rules the US helped set in the form of global institutions like the World Bank or the World Trade Organization.

After failing to compete fair and square against China and other emerging economic powers, including Russia, the US now wants to change the rules themselves to maintain an unfair advantage and preserve the neocolonialist system it created, he argued.

"It cannot be stable for any prolonged period of time. Historically speaking, our cause is the good one."

Power has becomes more important than autonomy and independence. It defies reason.