Russia Claims Never Intend To Win Crimea From Ukraine

JAKARTA - Russia claims it has never set a goal to seize Crimea, Donbass, or Novorossiya. Russia, according to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, wants to protect its people.

"I want to emphasize once again that we have never spoken about seizing any territory. Neither Crimea, Donbass, nor Novorossiya as territory has ever been our goal," Lavrov said in an interview with Russian television channel Rossiya-24 reported by TASS, Tuesday, August 19.

"Our goal is to protect the people, the Russian people, who have lived on this land for centuries, who have found this land, shed their blood for them both in Crimea and in Donbass, who founded the cities - operandi, Nikolayev, and many others as well as ports and factories," he said.

Lavrov said if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seriously wants his country to uphold his constitution, he should start with the first articles of the document that guarantee the rights of the people of the language of Russia.

"Zelenskyy, while speaking in Washington, said 'I am ready to negotiate, but I will not even discuss any territory, because the constitution does not allow it'," continued the Russian Foreign Minister.

Lavrov noted, paradoxically, although laws banning Russian in various fields have been passed, the Ukrainian constitution still requires the state to fully protect the rights of citizens of Russia and other national minorities.

"If he really cares about his constitution, then he has to start with his first articles, where this obligation is immortalized," Lavrov continued.

US President Donald Trump previously met Zelenskyy and a number of European leaders on Monday, August 18 local time.

In addition, the meeting was attended by European Commission Chair Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. According to French President Emmanuel Macron, the talks focused on security guarantees for Ukraine.