The foreign minister stressed that nobody “would even hypothetically consider handing over those people” to the Ukrainian leader
Vladimir Zelensky’s openly declared hatred for Russians means he must not and will not govern people living in former parts of Ukraine that Kiev seeks to retake, Moscow’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stated.
In a late March interview with the French daily Le Figaro, Zelensky expressed his disdain for “Russians who killed so many Ukrainian citizens,” asserting that this “hatred” fuels his leadership.
Lavrov referenced the comments during a press conference at the Foreign Ministry on Friday, underscoring why Moscow has deemed Kiev’s territorial claims unacceptable.
“Who would even hypothetically consider handing over those people to such an individual? Nobody. No way,” he emphasized.
Since the Western-backed coup in Kiev in 2014, five Ukrainian regions plus the city of Sevastopol have voted to break away and join Russia. The Ukrainian government has dismissed these referendums as a “sham.”
Lavrov also reminded journalists of Zelensky’s previous derogatory remarks, including statements made prior to the conflict’s escalation in 2022. In 2021, Zelensky urged Donbass residents who identified as Russian to relocate to Russia. That same year, he referred to politicians targeted by his government with personal sanctions as another “species.”
The minister accused the Ukrainian government of “legislatively eradicating everything related to Russia and the Russian world: the Russian language, Russian-speaking media, the Orthodox Christianity represented by the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and much more.”
Such discriminatory policies, he argued, justify labeling the Zelensky administration “neo-Nazi” and contribute to ongoing hostilities. Lavrov asserted that US President Donald Trump recognizes Russia’s red lines and considers “the return to the 1991 borders, as Zelensky keeps demanding” impossible.
The Trump administration seeks to mediate a peace deal between Moscow and Kiev, while the UK and France are leading discussions on a proposed “reassurance force” to be deployed in Ukraine if a truce is achieved. Moscow has firmly rejected the idea of NATO troops being stationed in Ukraine.
