Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says regions of Ukraine where widely criticized referendums are being held will be under Moscow’s “full protection” if annexed, raising the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons if Kyiv tries to recover these territories.
Lavrov’s comments at a news conference in New York City on Saturday came as residents of four Russian-occupied regions in eastern and southern Ukraine continued to vote to join Russia.
Moscow has described the four-day referendums that began on Friday as a vote for self-determination, but Ukraine and its Western allies see the polls as Kremlin-orchestrated drills with a foregone conclusion.
Kyiv says many of the regions’ residents are being forced to vote.
“After these referendums, Russia will, of course, respect the expression of the will of those people who for many years have suffered the abuses of the neo-Nazi regime,” Lavrov told reporters after addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Asked whether Russia would have reasons to use nuclear weapons to defend Ukraine’s annexed regions, Lavrov said that Russian territory, including the territory “further enshrined” in Russia’s constitution in the future, “is under the full protection of the state”.
“All laws, doctrines, concepts and strategies of the Russian Federation apply throughout its territory,” he said, also referring specifically to Russia’s doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons.
The minister’s comments follow an explicit warning on Thursday by former President Dmitri Medvedev, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, that any weapon in Moscow’s arsenal, including strategic nuclear weapons, could be used to defend territories incorporated into Russia. Putin had also previously pledged to use “all means at our disposal,” including nuclear weapons, to protect his country if its territorial integrity was threatened.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Lavrov’s comments, and Putin’s earlier statement when he said he was not bluffing about using nuclear weapons, were “irresponsible” and “absolutely unacceptable”.
“Ukraine will not give in. We call on all nuclear powers to speak out now and make it clear to Russia that such rhetoric endangers the world and will not be tolerated,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter.
Ukraine has also called for an urgent UN Security Council meeting on the referendums, calling for Russia to be “held accountable for its subsequent attempts to change Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders in violation of the UN Charter.” , Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said on Twitter. .
Russia’s war in Ukraine, which has killed thousands, is now in its seventh month and many leaders who had spoken at the annual UN summit in New York had turned to Moscow for the conflict, denouncing its threats nuclear weapons, claiming that he has committed atrocities and war. crimes, and criticizing his decision to call up some of his reserves.
Lavrov had previously used his UN address to justify Russia’s actions, repeating false claims that the elected government in Kyiv was illegitimately installed, filled with neo-Nazis and oppressed Russian-speakers in the east of the country.
He also tried to shift the focus to the United States, claiming that Washington and its NATO allies – not Russia, as the West maintains – are aggressively undermining the system that the UN represents. He accused the West of trying to “destroy and fracture Russia” to “remove a geopolitical entity that has become too independent from the global map.”
Asked at the news conference if he could foresee future talks with the US to make Russia feel more confident about what it calls Nato’s encroachment into its sphere of influence, Lavrov said it was the West that had broken off the discussions previous ones His US counterpart Antony Blinken cut off the talks on the eve of the invasion, saying Russia’s move of forces to Ukraine’s border was a “total rejection of diplomacy”.
“We are not saying no to contacts. And when proposals in this regard come, we agree. If our partners want to meet quietly so that no one finds out, that is fine because it is always better to speak than not to speak” , Lavrov said.
“But in the current situation, Russia simply will not make the first move.”
He also sought to portray opposition to Russia’s war in Ukraine as limited to Washington and countries under its influence, despite nearly three-quarters of the General Assembly having voted to rebuke Moscow in March.
However, Russia’s strategic partner China has been firmly on the fence, criticizing Western sanctions against Moscow but not supporting or helping the military campaign. In a surprise admission, Putin said last week that China’s leader Xi Jinping was concerned about Ukraine.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in his UN speech, called on both Russia and Ukraine to “prevent the crisis from spilling over” and affecting developing countries.
“China supports all efforts leading to the peaceful resolution of the Ukraine crisis. The urgent priority is to facilitate peace talks,” Wang said. “The fundamental solution is to address the legitimate security concerns of all parties and build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture,” he added.
Asked by reporters if Russia was under pressure from China to end the war, Lavrov said: “I may tell your readers, listeners and viewers that I avoided answering your question.”