US not powerful enough to take on China and Russia alone, Putin’s foreign minister says

The United States is not powerful enough to deal with China and Russia, according to Vladimir Putin’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.

During a rambling news conference praising joint military exercises between Moscow and Beijing, Lavrov compared the United States to Adolf Hitler and Napoleon, who he said mobilized European countries against the Russian empire.

Supporting Ukraine in its fight against the invading Russian forces, Lavrov claimed that Washington is leading Europe in a proxy war against Russia, with the goal of a “Final Solution to the Russian Question”, likening it to the genocidal goals of hitler.

Israel criticized Russia’s top diplomat last year for saying Hitler was part Jewish and the worst anti-Semites were Jews, after being asked why Moscow incorrectly portrays Zelensky, who has a Jewish background, as a Nazi.

Speaking on Wednesday, Lavrov said the United States was trying to “contain” both Russia and China with the help of other countries, but was alert to their “games.”

He told the assembled press that the West saw both countries as a threat: Russia at the moment and China in the long term as a systemic rival.

He said that Washington was not powerful enough to keep both countries in check at once, so he was mobilizing Europe, Japan and others to join. At the same time, he said, the West was trying to drive a wedge between Russia and China.

Lavrov also accused the West of looking for ways to anger China on a number of issues, such as the status of Tibet and Taiwan, which lives under the constant threat of invasion from China, which claims self-governing democracy as part of its territory to be retaken. one day, by force if necessary. The United States has said it would help defend Taiwan.

He said China was too powerful for the United States to deal with on its own should the two countries become embroiled in conflict, so Washington was forced to “mobilise” the West to support its anti-Beijing agenda.

“They have already outlined their positions on Taiwan, which are absolutely unacceptable to China and to international law. They are looking for more and more opportunities to irritate China in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong,” he said.

“Therefore, China is well aware that staying in the Western system and relying entirely on the West is fraught with very serious risks to China’s fundamental national development interests.”

His comments underscored the strategic importance for Moscow of its relationship with China at a time when its military is fighting in Ukraine and its economic ties with the West have been shattered by successive waves of sanctions.

Ties with Beijing have never been stronger, Lavrov said, and the two countries were shifting more and more of their trade into their national currencies to reduce reliance on the West and exposure to sanctions.

Russia and China signed an ‘unlimited’ partnership last February, days before Moscow sent its armed forces to Ukraine. Its economic ties have soared as Russia’s connections with the West have withered.

Putin has been relying on Beijing to bail him out amid heavy sanctions.

However, Russian President Putin has publicly acknowledged that his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, is “concerned” by Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

On Ukraine, Lavrov said that Moscow saw no prospect of peace talks and that there could be no negotiations with President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Russia has said that talks are possible only if Ukraine recognizes Moscow’s claims to Ukrainian territory; Kyiv says it will fight until Russia withdraws from all of Ukraine.

He compared the West’s approach to Russia to Hitler’s “final solution,” the Holocaust plot to murder all European Jews. Since before Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, Russia has tried to portray Kyiv as being run by a Nazi government.

He has explained his decision to send troops to Ukraine on February 24 as the need to ‘demilitarise’ and ‘denazify’ Ukraine, to prevent the neighboring country from joining NATO and to protect Russian-speakers living there.

This approach has been heavily criticized for misinforming, being racist, and covering up an unprovoked act of aggression.

Despite Russia suffering a series of setbacks in its war in Ukraine, Lavrov said the goals of Moscow’s so-called “special military operation” are “determined by Russia’s core legitimate interests” and will be met.

“There must be no military infrastructure in Ukraine that poses a direct threat to our country,” he said, adding that Moscow also intends to ensure that the rights of ethnic Russians in Ukraine are protected.

Speaking at his marathon annual press conference, Lavrov dismissed Zelensky’s demands for a complete Russian withdrawal from Ukraine.

He also dismissed Ukraine’s insistence on war damage payments and the prosecution of war criminals as a platform for further talks, saying “there can be no talks with Zelensky.”

Lavrov claimed that “the West makes all decisions for Ukraine” with the aim of using the conflict to exhaust Russia. NATO members have provided Ukraine with substantial military aid.

“The amount of Western support clearly shows that the West has invested heavily in its war against Russia,” he said. “It is the West that makes the decisions. And he has made decisions for Ukraine and without Ukraine.’

He claimed that Russia’s action in Ukraine is “our response to a hybrid war unleashed against us” by the West.

He said Russia is ready to “seriously consider” any Western initiative to end the conflict, but added: “We have not yet seen any serious proposals.”

Any future Russian talks with Western representatives should not be limited to Ukraine, Lavrov continued. “There is no point in talking to the West only about Ukraine.

“The West is using Ukraine to destroy the security system that existed in the Euro-Atlantic region for a long time and depended on consensus, the indivisibility of security and the resolution of all problems through dialogue and cooperation.”

He warned that Russia’s standoff with the West over Ukraine is part of global policy changes that will evolve over a long period.

‘The process of forming a multipolar world order will be long; it will take a while,’ he said. “And now we’re in the middle of that process.”

He cited Western efforts to hinder increasing cooperation between Russia and China, saying they will not succeed.

Lavrov said that Russia’s relations with the West “will never be the same” and accused the West of not abiding by the agreements signed with Russia. “There will never again be a situation where you lie, sign documents and then refuse to comply,” he said.