Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Russia is taking all precautions to cause the least possible damage to civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
At the same time, he argues that the systematic attacks that Russia has directed against Ukrainian infrastructure, especially the electricity grid, are not civilian infrastructure.
– Eliminate the energy infrastructure that allows the West to pump lethal weapons into Ukraine to kill Russians, and eliminate the infrastructure that ensures the Ukrainian military can do its job, Lavrov said during a nearly three-hour news conference Thursday.
Lavrov’s sensational statements are in stark contrast to the conditions on the field.
– Inhuman strategy
This fall, Russia has systematically attacked critical civilian infrastructure across Ukraine. Russian kamikaze drones, rockets and cruise missiles have damaged or destroyed more than half of Ukraine’s energy grid.
At times, for example, 70 percent of Kiev’s population was left without electricity. The Ukrainian authorities are working frantically to restore the grid, but with each passing day, more and more of the country’s energy infrastructure is being destroyed.
– Taking heavy losses
Continuous blackouts across Ukraine have long since become commonplace. Facing a cold winter, it could be downright disastrous for the civilian population of Ukraine.
– The inhumane strategy seems to be to prevent people from having access to electricity and heating towards the winter season. It is a desperate attempt to freeze fleeing people, Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt (AP) said during a visit to Kiev earlier this week.
– Do as little damage as possible
Foreign Minister Lavrov snorts at Western accusations and denies that Russia’s strategy is to inflict suffering on the Ukrainian civilian population.
– Our military operation was carried out in such a way as to cause the least possible damage to civilian infrastructure, said Foreign Minister Lavrov.
In addition to attacking Ukraine’s electricity grid, Russia has also bombed district heating plants, railway stations and hospitals. Apartment buildings are also regularly hit by bomb attacks.
Norwegian experts have previously described this attacks like “terror” on the side of Russia.
– This is something Russia does on a regular basis. It is important to clarify that these are simply well thought out war crimes. These are deliberate attacks on civilians, who are not involved in the war at all. Knowingly and willfully, Russia commits terror and war crimes against the civilian population in Ukraine, said retired lieutenant general Arne Bård Dalhaug, at the Dagbladet in October.
Compared to Stalingrad
Lavrov made the sensational statements about the attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure after being pressed by a Western journalist.
The journalist asked Lavrov how Russia justifies the many attacks against Ukrainian infrastructure when the consequences of these also affect the population of the Ukrainian counties that Vladimir Putin’s regime annexed in September.
– Stalingrad was also our territory. We attacked the Germans there, so they fled, says Lavrov.
Gloomy message: – Difficult
The Battle of Stalingrad was a decisive turning point in World War II and one of the bloodiest, most brutal and most devastating battles of the war.
Lavrov then tried to relativize Russia’s invasion and war in Ukraine with Western military interventions in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq.
– Please compare this with when the US bombed Iraq. It didn’t happen because Iraq wanted to ban the English language or Hollywood movies. They showed a bottle and claimed it was chemical weapons, but Iraq posed no real threat to American borders, Lavrov said.
– No more “business as usual”
During the nearly three-hour press conference, Lavrov reiterated recognizably Russian views.
He opened the session with a long tirade about Russia’s dissatisfaction with the West, and delivered countless rhetorical kicks at the West in general, and at the US, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in particular.
– The end of Putin
Lavrov called Stoltenberg and other European diplomats without facts in their description of the situation in and around Ukraine, and accused NATO and the West of being the aggressive party.
The foreign minister then said that the relationship between Russia and the West will never be the same.
– Unless our Western neighbors suddenly become interested in resuming our joint work on European security, the relationship will not be the same. A facelift will mean a return to how it was, but going forward there will be no “business as usual,” says Lavrov.
