Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has declared Russia will ‘keep sending messages’ in the form of devastating strikes on Ukraine if Western officials continue their course of action in supporting Kyiv.
Lavrov said that Moscow doesn’t want a war with the United States but will use ‘all means’ to defend its interests in an interview with former Fox News host and X broadcaster Tucker Carlson.
He went on to argue that, while Russia and the US are officially not at war, Washington’s permission for Ukraine to use American longer-range missiles for strikes on Russian territory marked a dangerous escalation.
‘It is obvious that the Ukrainians would not be able to do what they’re doing with long-range modern weapons without direct participation of the American servicemen. And this is dangerous, no doubt about this,’ he said, adding that the Western belief that Russia’s red lines could be ‘moved again and again’ is ‘a very serious mistake.’
Lavrov, the world’s longest-serving foreign minister who has been on the job for 20 years, said that the recent Russian strike on Ukraine with a new hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile called Oreshnik was a signal to the West that Russia is prepared to use all means to achieve its goals.
‘The message which we wanted to send by testing in real action this hypersonic system is that we will be ready to do anything to defend our legitimate interests,’ he said.
‘Since some people in Washington, London and Brussels seem not very capable to understand – we will send additional messages if they don’t draw necessary conclusions.’
Putin’s trusted international representative covered a variety of topics in the 80-minute interview and also revealed what conditions Moscow is seeking to end the war in Ukraine.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaks during an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, back to a camera, in Moscow, Russia on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024
Lavrov said the ‘Oreshnik’ strike on Ukraine was a message to the West
Speaking about the Kremlin conditions for a potential peace deal, he reaffirmed Putin’s declaration that Ukraine should pull back its forces from the four regions that Russia annexed in September 2022 and renounce its bid to join NATO.
Lavrov said Russia is willing to negotiate based on the permutations set out in the Minsk agreements in 2014 and 2015 but that subsequent developments, including Russia’s annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in Ukraine, must be taken into account.
He added that any peace agreement must secure the rights of Russian speakers in Ukraine.
‘The key principle is non-bloc status of Ukraine and we are ready to be part of the group of countries who would provide collective security guarantees to Ukraine.
‘No military bases, no military exercises on Ukrainian soil with participation of foreign troops.
‘We cannot tolerate a deal which would keep the legislation which I quoted prohibiting Russian language, culture and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,’ he said.
Lavrov also told Carlson that Russia views US and Western involvement in Ukraine as part of a ploy to uphold its hegemonic domination of global affairs.
He claimed the US wants ‘Ukrainian servants’ and said Russia by contrast cares about the people whose ancestors worked to develop the Donbas region of Ukraine, adding that Washington’s support of Volodymyr Zelensky’s government is another example of US foreign policy ‘adventures’.
‘The US historically in foreign policy was motivated by making some trouble and seeing if they can fish in the muddy water,’ Lavrov declared.
‘The Iraqi aggression, the Libyan adventure ruining the state… I think if you analyse American foreign policy steps – adventures is the right word – that’s the pattern.’
Lavrov is the world’s longest-serving foreign minister who has been on the job for 20 years
Lavrov’s interview with Carlson comes as officials, military chiefs and civilians on all sides of the Ukraine conflict wait to see what approach the Trump administration will take
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
When asked about his view of Donald Trump, who is set to return to the White House next month, Lavrov described him as ‘a very strong person, a person who wants results, who doesn’t like procrastination on anything.’
But he dismissed the idea that Trump is in any way ‘pro-Russian’, saying that the Kremlin will wait to examine the president-elect’s attitude toward Russia and the Ukraine conflict.
‘He’s very friendly in discussions but this does not mean that he’s pro-Russian as some people try to present him. The amount of sanctions we received under him was very very big.
‘As Putin said, we have been open all along with contacts, with the current administration… we hope that when Donald Trump is inaugurated we will understand.
‘The ball, as Putin said, is on their side.’
Lavrov’s interview with Carlson comes as officials, military chiefs and civilians on all sides of the Ukraine conflict wait to see what approach the Trump administration will take.
Advisers to Trump publicly and privately are floating proposals to end the war that would cede large parts of the country to Russia for the foreseeable future, according to several people close to the US president-elect.
The proposals by three key advisers, including Trump’s incoming Russia-Ukraine envoy, retired Army Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg, share some elements, including taking NATO membership for Ukraine off the table.
Trump’s advisers would try forcing Moscow and Kyiv into negotiations with carrots and sticks, including halting military aid to Kyiv unless it agrees to talk but boosting assistance if the Russian President refuses.
Trump has famously said that the Russia-Ukraine war would never have started had he been president and claimed he could bring the conflict to an abrupt halt – without ever revealing his plans for doing so.
‘I can’t give you those plans because if I give you those plans, I’m not going to be able to use them,’ he said famously.
President Donald Trump, center, sits with retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, right
Ukrainian servicemen of the 43 Artillery Brigade fire a 2S7 Pion self-propelled cannon towards Russian positions at a front line in the Donetsk region
In a policy paper published in April, Lt. Gen. Kellogg recognised a ceasefire would be a bitter pill to swallow for Ukraine but would ultimately be the quickest way to end the bloodshed.
‘The Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian people will have trouble accepting a negotiated peace that does not give them back all of their territory or, at least for now, hold Russia responsible for the carnage it inflicted on Ukraine.
‘But as Donald Trump said at the CNN town hall in 2023, “I want everyone to stop dying.” That’s our view, too,’ the paper concluded.
Other members of Trump’s inner circle have also put forward similar suggestions.
In September, Vice President-elect JD Vance offered former US Navy Seal Shawn Ryan an outline of how peace may be brought about in Ukraine under Trump.
‘What it probably looks like is something like the current line of demarcation between Russia and Ukraine becomes like a demilitarised zone, heavily fortified for the Russians don’t invade again,’ Vance told the former Seal on his podcast.
‘Ukraine remains an independent sovereign. Russia gets the guarantee of neutrality from Ukraine.
‘It does not join NATO and some other allied institutions. Germans and other nations have to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction,’ Vance added.