Lavrov compares Ukrainian Nazis with Third Reich
Nazis in both Ukraine and World War II-era Germany killed people based on their ethnicity, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said, in reference to the 2014 Odessa massacre.
Speaking after talks with Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Jeenbek Kulubaev on Sunday, Lavrov drew direct parallels between the Third Reich and modern Ukraine with regard to their treatment of people they seek to subjugate.
'The Nazis burned Jews simply because they were Jews, and the Ukrainian Nazis burned Russian people in Odessa on May 2, 2014 simply because they were Russian,' he stated.
The Russian foreign minister was referring to violent clashes in Odessa in the early days of the Ukraine crisis, when street battles between pro-Ukraine and anti-Maidan activists ended with a fire at the city's Trade Unions House, which claimed dozens of lives. Moscow described the incident as a massacre by Ukrainian nationalist groups.
Lavrov also criticized German Chancellor Friedrich Merz for calling for Ukraine's defense capabilities to be strengthened and for warning European countries against repeating the appeasement policies of the 1930s by negotiating with Russia on its terms.
'A stunning comparison for a person who expects to be taken seriously as chancellor of Germany,' Lavrov said, adding that Moscow is seeking a just settlement of the Ukraine conflict. 'But of course, we are not ready for the fraudulent approaches that some European leaders are pushing us toward,' he stated.
Moscow has denied that it has any plans to attack NATO countries, and has for years sounded the alarm over the resurgence of Nazi ideology in Ukraine, as well as the suppression of Russian culture by Kiev. The Kremlin has listed 'denazification' as one of the key goals in the Ukraine conflict.
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