US poses existential threat to Russia, says Putin’s leading diplomat - The Independent

Vladimir Putin’s apical diplomat claimed the US posed an existential menace to Russia done its enactment for Ukraine.

Sergei Lavrov, the Kremlin’s overseas curate who has a estimation for chaotic statements, utilized a property league connected Thursday to condemn Washington and Nato, portion defending Russia’s bombing of Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure.

He said the Kremlin’s battle connected the Ukrainian powerfulness grid was aimed astatine cutting disconnected the country’s proviso of occidental arms, countering the presumption held by Kyiv and allies that knocking retired vigor and energy for mean citizens was an effort to interruption the nationalist spirit.

His remarks came hours aft Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said astir 6 cardinal Ukrainians were facing wintertime without powerfulness owed to a two-month agelong bid of strikes connected powerfulness plant, substations and transmission lines, among different cardinal vigor infrastructure.

On Wednesday night, the politician of Kherson said the region’s precocious liberated superior metropolis had mislaid powerfulness aft dense shelling from Russian forces.

The West has been feeding Ukraine weapons passim the war, lately turning towards the proviso of aerial defence systems to antagonistic the Russian strikes which person rained connected cities each implicit the country, acold from the beforehand lines of the warfare successful the southbound and east.

Mr Lavrov claimed the arms shipments on with grooming of Ukrainian soldiers connected occidental ungraded amounted to nonstop information successful the struggle by Nato, successful peculiar the US.

He went connected to complaint that Kyiv was taking subject orders from “Western masters”, a assertion fashionable among Russian officials during the 10 months since Mr Putin ordered the invasion.

Mr Lavrov said: “We onslaught vigor facilities that marque it imaginable for westbound to pump weapons into Ukraine.”

“So don’t accidental that the US and Nato are not participants successful this warfare – you are straight participating. Including not lone the proviso of weapons, but besides the grooming of unit – you bid the [Ukrainian] subject connected your territory.”

He added: “The immense bulk of the targets struck by the Ukrainian Nazi battalion are determined by the Western masters of that regime.”

Though the curate devoted astir of the league to criticising the west, helium insisted that Russia was unfastened to the anticipation of talks, some with Ukraine and the United States.

He said Russia had ne'er walked distant from contacts with the US but was yet to perceive immoderate “substantive ideas” from Washington, continuing Russia’s attempts to overgarment itself arsenic being denied a accidental astatine peace, contempt being down the penetration of Ukraine.