​​Lavrov shifts responsibility for war to Ukraine in talks with US

Yahoo

19-02-2025

During talks between the US and Russia in Saudi Arabia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov justified Russia's full-scale invasion by shifting responsibility for the war to Ukraine and the West. He repeated the Kremlin's propaganda theses about the alleged "root causes" of the war, including NATO expansion and "discrimination" against the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine.
Source: Institute for the Study of War (ISW)
Details: In their report, analysts highlight that during the discussions in Saudi Arabia, the Russian delegation stressed the need to address the so-called "root causes" of the war. According to the Kremlin, these include NATO expansion and the alleged discrimination against ethnic Russians by the Ukrainian government, as well as restrictions on the Russian language, media, and culture in Ukraine.
ISW experts underline that such rhetoric is part of a wider Kremlin information campaign aimed at portraying Russia's full-scale invasion as a necessary response to actions by Ukraine and the West. By doing so, Moscow attempts to legitimise its aggression by substituting the genuine causes of the war with propaganda narratives.
Quote from ISW: "This presentation denies the reality that Zelensky ran and took office on a platform of ending the ongoing conflict and sought to negotiate with Putin early in his term and that Putin refused to curtail his proxies' continuous violations of the terms of the Minsk II agreement."
Lavrov also reiterated Putin's long-standing demands from late 2021, which include Ukraine's neutrality, renunciation of NATO membership, restrictions on the size of its armed forces, and the effective removal of the Ukrainian government.
Lavrov, in particular, dismissed claims that Russia was responsible for its deliberate and sustained efforts to dismantle Ukraine's energy infrastructure. He asserted that Russian troops had no intention of damaging it, despite substantial evidence demonstrating that Russian forces systematically targeted Ukraine's energy facilities with precision weaponry.
Quote from ISW: "Russian forces have also repeatedly experimented with different strike packages that aim to ensure that high-precision weapons are able to bypass Ukrainian air defence and reach their intended energy infrastructure targets.
Lavrov claimed that US officials at the bilateral meeting proposed a moratorium on strikes against Russian and Ukrainian energy facilities, and Lavrov responded that Russian forces only strike facilities that 'directly support' the Ukrainian military."
Details: ISW stresses that Lavrov is deliberately minimising the extent of Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, which Russian forces have consistently carried out every winter since the start of the full-scale invasion.Russian and American officials met in Saudi Arabia for bilateral talks about the war in Ukraine on 18 February, but Russia continues to display no indications that it is prepared to make any meaningful concessions on Ukraine as assessed by Western intelligence and US officials in line with ISW's longstanding assessment.
Many recent Russian statements show that the Kremlin remains uninterested in engaging in good faith negotiations and retains its objective of destroying the Ukrainian state while the Kremlin has offered no public indication that it would materially compromise.
Many recent Russian statements show that Putin remains uninterested in engaging in good faith negotiations and retains his objective of destroying the Ukrainian state while the Kremlin has offered no public indication that it would materially compromise.
Russian officials at the bilateral meeting continued to signal the Kremlin's unwillingness to negotiate on the war in Ukraine and determination to achieve its maximalist objectives in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy, in contrast to Kremlin officials, continues to demonstrate Ukraine's willingness to compromise to bring about an enduring end to the war.
Russian officials in Saudi Arabia began what will likely be an ongoing effort to push the United States into accepting Russian offers of economic and investment measures in lieu of any actual Russian concessions on Ukraine.
Dmitriev attempted to frame Russian-offered economic incentives as more beneficial for the US than for Russia, but in reality Russia needs economic relief as soon as possible to stave off looming crises in 2025 and 2026.
US officials continue to meet with European leaders about support for Ukraine.
Russian forces recently advanced near Borova, Toretsk, and Velyka Novosilka.
A Russian milblogger and former Storm-Z instructor continued to complain that the Russian military command's lack of response to systemic issues is limiting Russian advances near Pokrovsk.
Russian opposition outlet SOTA reported on 18 February that Republic of Mordovia Head Artyom Zdunov announced that regional authorities are raising one-time payments for recruits who sign a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) from 400,000 roubles (about US$4,000) to 1.1 million roubles (about US$12,000).
Russian forces continue to deploy wounded and medically unfit soldiers to the frontline in an effort to address personnel shortages.
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