Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that the West is “supporting genocide” in Ukraine by backing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s peace plan that Lavrov claimed would “destroy everything Russian” in eastern Ukraine and Crimea.
Lavrov, whose remarks came during a tour in Africa, did not provide any evidence to support his claim.
Russia has repeatedly accused the West of ignoring what it says is Ukraine’s persecution of Russian-speaking people in the eastern Donbass region and elsewhere.
Lavrov said during a press conference with his Burundian counterpart: “The outcome is very simple, the West directly supports the occurrence of genocide.”
Zelensky’s peace plan provides for the withdrawal of Russian forces from all Ukrainian lands, including Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Lavrov, speaking on the day Russia accuses Ukraine of launching the largest drone attack on Moscow, said the West is directly helping Kiev to launch such “terrorist” attacks by providing it with weapons and military equipment.
He added: “The West’s statement that the weapons it supplies to Ukraine should not be used to attack the territory of the Russian Federation is just another lie.”
Lavrov criticizes Graham
Lavrov also criticized comments by US Senator Lindsey Graham, saying they could be understood as encouraging the killing of Russians.
In an edited video released by Zelensky’s office on Friday, Graham appears to say during a meeting with Ukraine’s president in Kiev that “the Russians are dying” and then says that US support is “the best money we’ve ever spent.”
After Russia criticized the comments, Ukraine released a full video of the meeting on Sunday, showing there was no direct link between the two statements.
Graham said he simply praised the spirit of the Ukrainians in resisting the Russian invasion with the assistance provided by Washington.
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2023-05-30 14:58:40
