Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in an interview broadcast on Thursday, said the use of a hypersonic missile in the Ukraine war sought to make the West understand that Moscow was ready to use any means to ensure no "strategic defeat" would be inflicted on Moscow.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in an interview broadcast on Thursday, said the use of a hypersonic missile in the Ukraine war sought to make the West understand that Moscow was ready to use any means to ensure no "strategic defeat" would be inflicted on Moscow.
Russia deployed the Oreshnik hypersonic missile against the Ukrainian city of Dnipro last month in what Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin described as a test of a missile he said could not be brought down. He said Russia could bring other such missiles into action in "combat conditions" if required.
"The message is that you, I mean the U.S. and the allies of the U.S., who also provide these long-range weapons to the Kyiv regime - they must understand that we would be ready to use any means not to allow them to succeed in what they call a strategic defeat of Russia," Lavrov told U.S. journalist Tucker Carlson.
"They fight for keeping their hegemony over the world, on any country, any region, any continent. We fight for our legitimate security interests."
Speaking in English, Lavrov said the West had refused to discuss upholding security guarantees for Russia in the weeks and months before the February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, called a "special military operation" in Moscow.
As Russian troops massed on the Ukrainian border in early 2022, Western leaders urged Moscow not to invade its smaller neighbour. French President Emmanuel Macron met Putin three weeks before the invasion, saying he had received assurances that Russia would take no action to worsen the situation.
In his comments, Lavrov said Ukraine had lost the opportunity to maintain its territorial integrity by twice rejecting proposals for a deal, once before the full-scale war began and then in talks in April 2022 in Turkey.
"We did not start this war. We had been for years and years and years sending warnings that pushing NATO closer and closer to our borders is going to create a problem," he said.
Putin sent his troops over the border from Russia and its ally Belarus, with Putin saying Moscow was defending Russian-speakers in eastern Ukraine and seeking to "de-Nazify" the Ukrainian leadership in Kyiv.
RED LINES
In the course of the 80-minute interview, Lavrov also said that the West should abandon any notion that Russia had no "red lines" that it would bar anyone from crossing in defending its interests.
"If they are following the logic which some Westerners have been pronouncing lately, that they don't believe that Russia has red lines, they announced their red lines, these red lines are being moved again and again, this is a very serious mistake," he said.
Lavrov dismissed as "pointless" Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's peace plan first presented in late 2022 and the subsequent "victory" plan announced earlier this year.
Putin last June said that Russia was willing to hold talks with Ukraine on condition that Ukraine acknowledged Moscow's control over the four regions of the country it has annexed, though without fully controlling any of them.
Zelenskiy's plan initially called for a complete Russian withdrawal and recognition of its 1991 post-Soviet border. Last month, he said Ukraine could hold talks and leave Russia in place in the territory it holds provided government-controlled areas of Ukraine could be brought under the NATO "umbrella".
The dates for a next third round of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations should be determined this week, according to Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the recent U.S. airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities as unjustified and warned they are driving the world toward heightened instability. He met with Iran’s foreign minister in Moscow, offering support while calling for efforts to ease tensions.
Italy has frozen Russian oligarchs' assets worth €2.3 billion ($2.6 billion) since the 2022 Ukraine invasion, as part of European Union sanctions, with additional seizures targeting Iranian-linked companies accused of aiding Moscow.
Iran's top diplomat has travelled to Moscow with a message from Supreme Leader Khamenei, seeking greater support from Russia after the most significant U.S. military action against Iran in decades.
Overnight Russian drone and missile attacks on Kyiv killed at least six people, injured dozens, and damaged residential buildings and a metro station serving as a bomb shelter, Ukrainian officials said.
A deadly weekend attack on a hospital in Sudan claimed the lives of more than 40 people, including children and healthcare workers, drawing international condemnation.
U.S. President Donald Trump called for a major interest rate cut before Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony to Congress.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov welcomed the Israel–Iran ceasefire on Tuesday but warned it was too early to say if the truce would hold.
Canada and the European Union signed a new Security and Defence Partnership on Monday in Brussels, marking a major step toward deepening transatlantic cooperation in military and security affairs.
Following the announcement of a ceasefire between Iran and Israel, U.N. nuclear chief Rafael Grossi has reached out to Tehran, urging renewed cooperation on its nuclear program.
Iran launched 18 ballistic missiles late Sunday targeting the U.S. military’s Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest American installation in the Middle East.
Iranian missiles struck multiple locations across Israel and neighbouring regions early Friday morning, including a Microsoft office complex, according to emergency responders and local media reports.
A high-speed tram derailment in central Gothenburg, Sweden, has left at least eight people injured late on Thursday (19 June), after the vehicle slammed into a snack bar on Avenyn Avenue.
China has unveiled a mosquito-sized bionic drone designed for covert military operations and battlefield reconnaissance, marking a major advance in micro-robotics and stealth technology as part of the country’s growing focus on next-generation warfare capabilities.
Wizz Air has suspended all flights to and from Tel Aviv, Israel, and its European services to Amman, Jordan, effective immediately until 15 September due to escalating situation in the Middle East. Also, the air carrier temporarily suspended its flights between Astana, Kazakhstan, and Abu Dhabi.
A new MIT study has found that regular use of Artificial Intelligence tools such ChatGPT, may lower brain activity and diminish critical thinking, raising concerns about their growing role in education and professional life.
Floods triggered by relentless monsoon rains have forced people to evacuate across China's Guizhou province, with cities urging residents to flee rising waters as infrastructure collapses and warnings of more extreme weather loom.
A deadly weekend attack on a hospital in Sudan claimed the lives of more than 40 people, including children and healthcare workers, drawing international condemnation.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov welcomed the Israel–Iran ceasefire on Tuesday but warned it was too early to say if the truce would hold.
Canada and the European Union signed a new Security and Defence Partnership on Monday in Brussels, marking a major step toward deepening transatlantic cooperation in military and security affairs.
A deadly weekend attack on a hospital in Sudan claimed the lives of more than 40 people, including children and healthcare workers, drawing international condemnation.
U.S. President Donald Trump called for a major interest rate cut before Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony to Congress.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov welcomed the Israel–Iran ceasefire on Tuesday but warned it was too early to say if the truce would hold.
Canada and the European Union signed a new Security and Defence Partnership on Monday in Brussels, marking a major step toward deepening transatlantic cooperation in military and security affairs.
Following the announcement of a ceasefire between Iran and Israel, U.N. nuclear chief Rafael Grossi has reached out to Tehran, urging renewed cooperation on its nuclear program.
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