Sergei Lavrov Quotes
NATO cannot accept that the unconstitutional coup in Ukraine has not led to the subjugation of the whole Ukrainian nation.
Lavrov, Sergey. "Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions at a news conference on Russia’s diplomacy performance in 2014." The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, 21 Jan. 2015.
It was true that the majority of the citizens of Crimea in 2014 preferred to be a part of Russia than the Ukraine. So the Russians sized the Crimea, had an election and when the vast majority of the Crimeans voted for Russian affiliation, they annexed the Crimea under the principle of self-determination. However, Russia has two of its states with Muslim majorities that prefer to affiliate with one of the majority Muslim nations in the area. But the hypocrisy of the Russians became clear when they would not allow those two states to have elections. The Russian policy seemed to be that whatever is part of Russia is non-negotiable and not subject to self-determination, but whatever borders on Russia that is not part of Russia is entitled to an expression of self-determination and independence of other affiliation if they want. The Crimea had the only warm water port in the Soviet Union; they had a deal with the Ukrainians that their navy could use the port. However, they felt that Western support for the new Ukrainian government was the first step in ousting Russia from that port.
Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov is a Russian diplomat and politician who served as the Foreign Minister of Russia since 2004. As a member of the United Russia party, he was previously the Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations, serving in the role from 1994 to 2004.
