“Italy is in the front row against Russia. Zelensky? Hitler also had Jewish origins »- Corriere.it

On the evening of Sunday 1 May, Sergey LavrovThe Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, during the White Zone programme, on Rete 4. Lavrov spoke with words accusation against Italy – On the front row against Russia: we were surprised, we – and the West – were no longer who would fight on the field in Ukraine: a sentence that Lavrov did not provide evidence to support.

Moscow’s foreign minister also argued that Russia has always worked to reduce the risk of nuclear war (But the danger cannot be underestimated, he added, just forgetting about it On Russian channels, and not on Western ones, simulations of the devastation that nuclear weapons can cause in European capitals are running regularly) And that the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky Both hold anti-Semitic and Nazi ideas, although he is a Jew: but this does not mean anything, even Hitler, as Lavrov said, was of Jewish origin.

He also argued that Russia developed Hypersonic missiles To respond to a possible Western attack (forgetting that Moscow was the first country in the world to use it in a conflict, and that Ukraine does not have any hypersonic missiles), and that Zelensky should stop hostilities, he curtly answered a question about Putin’s health: This should Ask the leaders who met him.

Here are some of Lavrov’s key statements.

– We do not want to bring down Zelensky. We are not aiming for regime change in Kyiv, this is an American specialty. We are not even asking you to surrender. What we are asking is for hostilities to stop and civilians to be allowed to go. We want to ensure that no further threats to Russia come from Ukraine. (Moscow’s master plan to seize Kyiv is manifested in the progress of military operations on the ground; only the Ukrainian resistance prevented regime change. It is not clear what Lavrov means when he talks about leaving civilians.)

Russia has never stopped efforts to reach an agreement to avoid a nuclear war, a third world war. It is the Western media that have distorted our messages and misrepresented our goals in this process. Russia has developed ultrasonic weapons to defend itself against a possible attack from the West. We were ready to talk with the United States for a new agreement on strategic stability, but the American side stopped the negotiations. (Russia was the first country to use ultrasonic weapons in a conflict.)

– Zelensky is constantly changing his positions, the Ukrainians have sabotaged the negotiations. The Ukrainian government became a tool of Nazi extremists and the government of the United States. (Zelensky’s and Putin’s positions have been pushed forward in negotiations whose progress now seems particularly difficult, especially after what happened in Bucha and Kramatorsk, with rockets being fired at civilians fleeing the conflict zone.)

– The fact that Zelensky is a Jew does not mean that there are Nazi elements in Ukraine, and that the President allowed them. The worst anti-Semites are the Jews, even Hitler was of Jewish origin. (The comparison between Zelensky, a Jew by faith, and Hitler, who exterminated millions of Jews, is unheard of even for Russian diplomacy, which in recent weeks has also turned into an instrument of internal government.)

– Russia does not aim to accelerate the completion of the special operation in Ukraine by May 9, the day of Victory against Nazism. Our military will not artificially adjust its actions to any date. The pace of the operation in Ukraine depends, first of all, on the need to reduce the risks to the Russian civilian and military population. (Moscow, in its diplomatic statements, repeats that the target of its attacks is the Ukrainian military infrastructure – phrases that hardly correspond to images coming from conflict zones, first of all from Mariupol, a city practically destroyed).

– The Wagner mercenary group, whose elements are in Ukraine on behalf of the Russian government, is private and has no connection with the Russian state. There are many Western military representatives and mercenaries fighting in Ukraine. Lavrov provided no evidence to support these allegations.

Italy is in the first row in initiatives against Russia. For us it was a surprise. We are accustomed to the idea that Italy, thanks to its history, knew how to distinguish between white and black. There were Italian politicians and media who went beyond good diplomatic and journalistic standards, the embassy broadcast the material and opened proceedings for the violation of the law by the Italian media. But I have a great relationship with the Italian people, and that’s not in the question.

– The truth is only one: on March 30, the army left Bosha, the mayor declared victory and the city returned to normal life. Then after three days they began to show these dead people. I don’t want to go into details, but it’s clearly fake. As for what happened in Bucha, in addition to the countless journalistic evidence proving the falsity of what Lavrov said, international investigations are ongoing.

Zelensky can promote peace: it is enough that he stop issuing criminal orders to his Nazi forces. We just want to ensure the safety of pro-Russian Ukrainians in the east of the country.

– According to the scheme drawn up by the Kremlin, nothing has changed for gas importers. We will consider it paid only after converting the currency into rubles. (The European Union declared the non-acceptance of the obligation to pay for gas in rubles – in particular, the mechanism that would consider payment to be completed only when the amount paid in euros is converted into rubles).