JAKARTA - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States and NATO of playing a direct and dangerous role in Ukraine's war, saying Washington had turned Kyiv into a real threat to non-negligible Moscow.
Russia's top diplomat, speaking Thursday during its annual press conference in Moscow, also accused the United States and NATO of trying to increase tensions in the South China Sea, as well as trying to overthrow regional agencies designed to promote dialogue, such as OSCE in Europe and ASEAN in Asia.
Foreign Minister Lavrov defended a Russian campaign that had used airstrikes, drones and missiles to destroy Ukraine's infrastructure, an attack that Kyiv and the West called war crimes.
"We are disabling energy facilities (in Ukraine) that allow you (West) to pump deadly weapons into Ukraine to kill Russia," Lavrov said.
"So don't say that the US and NATO are not participants in this war, you participate directly. Including not only with the supply of weapons, but also with personnel training, you train the military (Ukraine) in your region," he explained.
Lavrov's stance, revisiting familiar Russian talks, was rejected by the West who said Moscow, which invaded Ukraine on February 24, was the war party.
Western powers say they are arming and training Kyiv to help him retake his own land, that Ukraine has no territorial design on Russian soil.
Russia, which dominated Ukraine before the Soviet Union disbanded in 1991, called its intervening in its neighbor a "special military operation" to keep Moscow safe.
Furthermore, Foreign Minister Lavrov accused the West of trying to use the conflict to destroy Russia.
"Talking about the West being interested in some kind of peaceful settlement doesn't impress us," he said.
"The West has publicly announced that they don't just want Russia to be defeated on the battlefield. It is said that Russia must be destroyed as a player altogether. And some even held special conferences speculating on how much part to divide Russia into how many and who will lead which part," he explained.
His comments appear to refer to the fact that some Western politicians say they want to ensure Russia cannot pose a threat to neighboring countries in the future, and to comments from some Ukrainian politicians who speculate how long Russia will last as a single country.
However, Foreign Minister Lavrov explained Russia is open to possible talks, both with Ukraine and the United States.
Russia is ready to listen to anyone who wants to hold talks, he said. It has never avoided possible contact between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, including having shown willingness to accept German and French leaders when they want to discuss Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Ukraine said it would only be ready to hold talks after Russia withdrew from its territory, including from Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Kyiv said Russia would only use the talks as an opportunity to buy time and rebuild its armed forces.
Foreign Minister Lavrov said this was "absurd" and complained about what he called America's "native" hope, that Russia would continue talks about nuclear stability at a time when he said the West was using Ukraine to destroy Russia.
Moscow withdrew from talks scheduled for this week on the New START nuclear agreement between the two countries.
"For now, we don't hear any meaningful ideas. (But) if there will be proposals from the President (Biden) and from other members of his government, we will never avoid contact," said Foreign Minister Lavrov.
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