The head of Russian diplomacy, Serguei Lavrov, opined on Tuesday that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) prefers war by rejecting a freeze on the conflict in Ukraine.
“If NATO, through the mouth of [Jens] Stoltenberg (General Secretary), saying again that he is against freezing, as they say, the conflict in Ukraine, so they want war,” Lavrov told Russian state television.
Stoltenberg said on Monday the Atlantic Alliance would support Ukraine for as long as necessary, but warned against freezing the conflict in exchange for an end to hostilities.
The solution, according to Stoltenberg, cannot be based on a “dictated peace” by Moscow, but on a successful counter-offensive by Kiev to recapture the territory occupied by Russian troops.
“Then let’s fight. We are ready,” Lavrov replied, quoted by the Spanish agency EFE.
According to the Russian foreign minister, Moscow “has long understood NATO’s objectives in Ukraine”.
NATO’s arms shipments, intelligence and training of the Ukrainian army are “de facto” evidence that the Alliance is directly involved in a war against Russia, he added.
Moscow has accused the West of waging a “proxy war” against Russia through Ukraine.
The current armed conflict between the two neighboring countries began on February 24, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine to “demilitarize and denazify” it.
NATO and other Western allies of Ukraine have supplied Kiev with weapons to fight the Russian invasion.
Ukraine’s allies also imposed economic sanctions on Moscow to try to reduce Russia’s ability to finance the war.
Source: DN
