Islam Times - Long-range Arms Supplied to Kiev Should Be Moved Away from Russia: Lavrov

Islam Times - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that the more long-range weapons are supplied to the Kiev regime by the West, the further they must be moved away from Russia's borders.

In an interview with Sputnik, he underscored that the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine is growing.

"The fact that the West cannot calm down - and, as in the infamous fairy tales, with every step it gets stuck even more in the swamp - this plays an important role in the course of the [Russian special military] operation. This escalation, you are absolutely right, is snowballing,” Lavrov said.

He added that "now we are trying to move the Ukrainian army's artillery so that it cannot pose a threat to our borders, but the West is going to supply long-range weapons, which means we will have to move it further."

The top Russian diplomat stressed that everybody wants the conflict in Ukraine to end, but the time factor is not the main one.

"We all want this to end, but it is not the time factor that is important here, the essence factor is of importance, the factor of the quality of the results that we provide for our people, for those who want to remain part of the Russian culture," Lavrov underlined.

According to Lavrov, the West is trying to defeat Russia in such a way so that it could not recover for decades, which is an attempt to solve the “Russian issue.”

“Why do people refuse to see the Nazi ideology that now underlies the Kiev regime? All those statements that are being made by his supporters and puppet masters, well, I don't see any way to regard them otherwise as an attempt to finally solve the ‘Russian issue’.”

He added that it seems that the West will supply Kiev with modern military equipment together with foreign combat crews.

"All types of weapons that have already been partially transferred, and especially those that have been announced, according to experts, it is impossible for Ukrainians to work on these systems, trained or having passed some two-month or even three-month courses. There are systems, according to specialists, that cannot be trained for in the foreseeable future, and if they are supplied, then most likely it will be done together with combat crews," Lavrov noted.

The Russian foreign minister also said that Moscow did not turn to Collective Security Treaty Organization [CSTO] partners with a request for assistance in connection with Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.

"We have not made such a request to anyone. We proceed from the fact that we have everything necessary to solve the tasks of the special military operation, to end the war that the West started through the Ukrainian regime even after the coup d’état," he underlined.

The remarks come after German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius last month announced Berlin’s decision to send 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, something that was followed by US President Joe Biden saying that Washington will deliver 31 Abrams tanks to Kiev.

Moscow has repeatedly warned that the US and its allies sending military aid to Kiev adds to prolonging the Ukrainian conflict. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that NATO countries “play with fire" by supplying weapons to Kiev, and that any convoy of arms for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russian forces.