Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told broadcaster Tucker Carlson that the Kremlin does not consider Russia to be at war with the United States, but that he still expects the United States to heed its warnings. The official opinion was conveyed.
The United States and Russia are in a “dangerous situation” and Russia is ready to use “all means” to defend itself, but the two countries are not actually at war with each other, Putin's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said. Ta. Foreign Minister Lavrov met with Tucker Carlson, his second meeting with Russian leaders, amid complaints that he was being blocked from speaking to Ukrainian leaders. Warnings have been and will continue to be expressed to Western countries, he asserted. Russia said it wanted to avoid a nuclear conflict.
While statements that Russia does not consider itself at war with the United States are inherently de-escalating and may be welcomed in Western capitals—Russia has previously warned that this may not be the case. Despite this, Mr. Lavrov continued to warn.
Previous attempts to intimidate the United States and other countries into not providing deep-attack missiles to Ukraine for use against Russia's interior have apparently failed, but there is another bid and Lavrov The Foreign Minister stated: U.S. allies, who also provide these long-range weapons to the Kiev regime, know that we are prepared to use any means necessary to prevent what they call a successful strategic defeat of Russia. Must be understood. ”
“We are ready to do whatever it takes to protect our legitimate interests,” he said.
He said the launch of an unarmed nuclear-attack ballistic missile into central Ukraine last month was a warning to Western powers attempting to further counter Russia, and if the warnings were ignored, further such attacks could occur. He insisted that a warning would follow.
Otherwise, many of the statements were – as expected – in typical Kremlin line, especially in avoiding responsibility for the conflict, not to start a war, but to encourage Russian-speaking people in Ukraine. He claimed to have launched a “special military operation” to protect them. Foreign Minister Lavrov insisted that Russia is not an aggressor and is not dovish about peace, saying, “We are reluctant to even think about a war with the United States of a nuclear nature… We cannot talk about an exchange of limited nuclear strikes.'' This is an invitation to disaster, and we will not allow it.” I don't want to have it. ”
Contradictory to this position is the near-constant nuclear attack in Russia in recent years, particularly by former President Dmitry Medvedev, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin and who has served as something of an attack dog in Russian international affairs. It's a threat.
Though a low-profile figure in peacetime, Mr. Lavrov has been in the international headlines this week as he made his first overseas trip to a Western country since Russia began its re-invasion of Ukraine in 2022. . The minister attended an OSCE meeting in Malta and accused Western countries of escalating the Ukraine conflict as a distraction from President Joe Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
He told a Cold War anti-escalation and counter-proliferation forum: “After the disgrace of Afghanistan, a new common enemy was needed…The result would be a rebirth of the Cold War, but now with far greater risks” on the escalation to the hot phase. ”
