Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterates claim that Ukraine’s Jewish president is a “pure Nazi,” calling him a “traitor to the Jewish people” while defending Russia’s invasion.
By World Israel News Staff
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused Ukraine’s Jewish president of being a “pure Nazi” who betrayed “the Jewish people,” referencing the Putin government’s past accusations.
Speaking with the Russian defense ministry’s official media outlet Krasnaya Zvezda, Lavrov said over the weekend that Volodymyr Zelensky is “nazifying” Ukraine. Lavrov also defended Russia’s February 2022 invasion of its neighbor and the continuing war between the two countries.
“Zelensky has turned 180 degrees from a man who came to power on slogans of peace, on slogans of ‘leave the Russian language alone, it is our common language, our common culture,’” Lavrov said. “And in six months, he has turned into a pure Nazi and, as Russian President Putin correctly said, into a traitor to the Jewish people.”
The comments came after President Donald Trump ordered Zelensky out of the White House following a stormy televised meeting between the two leaders in which Trump attempted to win Zelensky’s support for a deal trading American aid for mineral development rights in Ukraine.
The Trump administration has pushed Zelensky’s government to accept a ceasefire with Russia that does not mandate a full withdrawal to the pre-war borders.
As part of the deal, Trump has offered to provide additional U.S. aid to Ukraine, with Kyiv granting the U.S. rights to extract mineral deposits in the eastern European country – a move supporters say would tacitly ensure American support of Ukraine’s current borders.
Zelensky has rejected the plan, demanding America press Russia for a full withdrawal. Kyiv also criticized the mineral development proposal, saying its terms are overly favorable for the U.S.
During his interview over the weekend, Lavrov warned that Russia would not accept a prolonged European military presence in Ukraine, including under a peacekeeping mandate.
“Just as [the Ukrainian government] was brought to power on bayonets and pushed forward, they now want to prop them up with their bayonets in the form of peacekeeping units. But this will mean that the root causes [of the war] will not disappear.”
“When we ask these thinkers what will hypothetically happen to the part they take under control, they respond that nothing will change – it will remain Ukraine. I asked one person: will the Russian language be banned there? He said nothing. They cannot utter words of condemnation for what has happened.”
