By Tass

Copyright tass

MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/. Unlike other Western leaders, US President Donald Trump understands the need to address the root causes of the Ukrainian conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“Unlike all other Western politicians, first and foremost, of course, European leaders such as [Keir] Starmer, [Emmanuel] Macron, Ursula von der Leyen, [Friedrich] Merz, Alexander Stubb is also an active member of this group, and of course [Mark] Rutte. Unlike their actions and their position, which is that Ukraine is entirely in the right and that Russia must be dealt a ‘strategic defeat’ and Ukraine’s sovereignty be restored within the 1991 borders, Trump and his team have repeatedly demonstrated, including publicly, their understanding of the need to address the root causes of the conflict,” the top Russian diplomat said in an interview with a Channel One program.

According to Lavrov, Trump has publicly stated on multiple occasions that Ukraine should not be brought into NATO. “He clearly showed that, to resolve the situation, we must forget about these ‘attempts’ and establish security based on different principles,” Lavrov added.

“Secondly, the current US administration understands perfectly well that the situation on the ground is not the result of one country trying to ‘steal’ territory from another, but rather the result of people living in these territories whose rights – linguistic, religious, and others – have been legally trampled on. The Russian language is banned in schools, universities, and at all levels of education. The Russian language is banned in the media. Russian-language media outlets, whether owned by Russians or Ukrainians, are being shut down in Ukraine,” the foreign minister added.

He also pointed out that Russian-language books were being removed from libraries in Ukraine. “It’s a lot like the fascists under Hitler in the 1930s – they burned these books. Well, the Ukrainians, those thrifty devils, hand them over to be recycled and get paid for it,” Lavrov noted. “All cultural events in Russian are taboo. In a store, for example, if you ask for a packet of salt in Russian, the salesperson may say that they will not serve you until you switch to Ukrainian,” the top diplomat stressed.

Understanding root causes

The Russian foreign minister noted that during the talks in Alaska, Russia also mentioned that, among other things, the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church is banned in Ukraine. “President Trump, I hope I’m not letting the cat out of the bag here, was shocked and asked [US Secretary of State] Marco Rubio several times if this was true. And his attitude towards this kind of thing was clear,” he said.

“Understanding these root causes led to the specific proposals that were put on the table, which took into account Russia’s interests in ensuring its security, bearing in mind the ‘NATO factor’, and which considered the fate of the people living in [these] territories. This was reported in the media under the heading ‘exchange of territories’. But it was about what I just said. As I understand it, it was also reported that, following the Alaska summit, [US special presidential envoy] Steve Witkoff conveyed to the Ukrainian side the US vision of how to move forward, taking into account the understandings reached in Anchorage. This signal was rejected by the Ukrainian side,” Lavrov concluded.