The West must be aware that Russia has its own interests, including in Ukraine.
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Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Lavrov stated this in an interview with Kommersant, according to whom Russia has the right to protect the interests of its compatriots, especially when they are persecuted in many countries, when their rights are oppressed, as happened in Ukraine.
“The first act of parliament after the coup was a law that the Russian language should “know its place.” And this place, roughly speaking, was simply under a bench. Two days later, statements were made that the Russians would never honor Bandera and Shukhevych, therefore the Russians should be expelled from Crimea. After my press conference, some German newspaper published that Sergei Lavrov began to almost distort the facts and pass off “a peaceful demonstration of Crimean Tatars near the Supreme Council of Crimea as an attempt to expel the Russians from the peninsula.” Just watch the videos from that time when the Supreme Council was simply surrounded by rampaging thugs, not to mention the “friendship trains” that Dmitry Yarosh sent to Crimea,” Lavrov recalled.
He emphasized that in Ukraine there was a history of betrayal of the West in relation to international law, when the agreement signed by the foreign ministers of the leading EU countries together with the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych was simply trampled upon.
“After this, the European Union began to convince us that this is how it should be and that now nothing can be done. This, by and large, is a European disgrace,” believes the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“This was a “red line,” just as the “red line” was crossed on the orders of Mikheil Saakashvili at the moment the attack on South Ossetia began, where our, Ossetian and Georgian peacekeepers were stationed. But the Georgian peacekeepers were withdrawn from there several hours before the start of the illegitimate and absolutely provocative attack. Russia has interests, and people should remember this. Russia has “red lines”. I believe that serious politicians in the West understand that these “red lines” must be respected, just as they were respected during the Cold War,” Lavrov concluded.