Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday accused the United States and NATO of being “directly” involved in his war in Ukraine, but said Moscow was still open to talks.
At an annual news conference from Moscow, the foreign minister began his remarks by defending Russia’s missile barrage of civilian targets such as Ukraine’s energy sector and tried to claim it was a defense tactic to stop Western weapons.
“We disabled energy facilities [in Ukraine] that they allow you [the West] pump lethal weapons into the Ukraine to kill the Russians,” Lavrov said, according to a Reuters translation.
U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Cody Brown, right, with the 436th Air Port Squadron, checks pallets of 155mm shells bound for Ukraine on April 29, 2022, at Air Base Dover Air Force, Delaware.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
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“So don’t say that the United States and NATO are not participating in this war, you are directly participating,” he continued. “Including not only the supply of weapons, but also the training of personnel: you train the [Ukrainian] military on its territory.
Lavrov was referring to international efforts to train the Ukrainian military with NATO tactics in nations including Britain, Germany and Italy, comments that came after reports emerged this week suggesting Washington may expand its training of soldiers. Ukrainians at US bases in Germany.
Russia has been accused by NATO of using winter as a “weapon of war” by forcing Ukrainian citizens to endure increasingly harsh conditions without electricity, heating or running water as the cold months begin.
Ukrainian troops ride a repaired Russian tank in a wooded area on the outskirts of the city on September 26, 2022, in Kharkiv, Ukraine.
(Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
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The West has further claimed that Moscow is targeting the civilian population as a way of trying to force Kiev to capitulate as Russian forces have suffered significant losses on the front lines.
It’s unclear what the general sense is in Russia when it comes to Moscow’s deadly war on Ukraine, though cities across Russia have canceled their Christmas and New Year celebrations in recognition of the costly war.
Western estimates of the toll the war has claimed Russian troops suggest they have seen at least 80,000 casualties since the war began in February.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he will not participate in peace talks until Russia fully withdraws all troops from Ukraine.
Diminished relations between Russia and the West remain a major geopolitical concern, particularly after Moscow withdrew from scheduled talks with Washington this week over the nuclear New START Treaty.
Sitting next to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov listens during the Australia-New Zealand ASEAN Trade Area in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, November 13, 2022. .
(AP Photo/Heng Sinith, File)
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Lavrov suggested on Thursday that Russia remains open to talks with the United States and NATO member nations, but said it was “naive” of the United States to think it would engage in nuclear talks at this time.
“For now we are not hearing any significant ideas,” he said. “If there are going to be proposals from the president [Biden] and other members of his administration, we will never avoid contact.”
