Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Wednesday that Moscow would retaliate strongly if its "interests" in Ukraine are attacked. He also criticized the Ukrainian administration for relaunching its so-called anti-terrorist operation in the east of the country a day earlier.
Lavrov's remarks came in an interview with Russia Today, which published excerpts of the English-language interview to be broadcast later Wednesday.
The top Russian diplomat also compared the current situation in eastern Ukraine to that which led to a brief five-day war in August 2008 between Russian and Georgia over the Georgian region of South Ossetia. Georgia lost the 2008 war with Russia, leading to Moscow recognizing the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states despite firm opposition from the western nations.
"If our interests, our legitimate interests, the interests of Russians have been attacked directly, like they were in South Ossetia for example, I do not see any other way but to respond in full accordance with international law," Lavrov told Russia Today.
Notably, thousands of Russian troops are currently stationed along the border with Ukraine.
Lavrov accused the United States of "running the show" in Ukraine, and noted that the relaunching of the latest security operation in eastern Ukraine coincided with the visit of US Vice-President Joe Biden to the former Soviet Republic.
"It's quite telling they chose the moment of the Vice President of the US' visit to announce the resumption of this operation because the launching of this operation happened immediately after (CIA head) John Brennan's visit to Kiev," said Lavrov.
Lavrov also renewed his earlier allegation that Ukrainian authorities were violating the recent accord reached in Geneva for ending the ongoing crisis in the former Soviet Republic. He had said earlier that Ukrainian authorities were only interested in disarming pro-Russia militants in the east of the country, and not militants belonging to the ultra-nationalist Right Sector.
"Nothing that was agreed in Geneva that the Kiev authorities had to carry out has been implemented by them," he said.
Last Thursday, foreign ministers of the United States, Russia, Ukraine and the European Union had reached an agreement in Geneva on a preliminary plan for ending the ongoing crisis in eastern Ukraine. However, no agreement was reached on Crimea. The US and its allies still consider Russia's annexation of the region "illegal"
The deal required all armed groups in eastern Ukraine to immediately lay down weapons in a process to be overseen by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It called on all pro-Russian armed groups to return all the buildings seized by them to their rightful owners or national authorities. In return, the government of Ukraine was required to offer amnesty to protesters who had not committed capital crimes.
Since then, the United States and its allies have been urging Moscow to convince pro-Russian militants in eastern Ukraine to lay down their arms. Washington also threatened to impose further sanctions on Russia if Moscow does not tone down its aggressive rhetoric.
Months of political unrest in Ukraine led to the removal by Parliament of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in February, followed by tensions in the country's autonomous region of Crimea, which has a Russian-speaking majority population. Subsequently, people in Crimea voted in a referendum to break away from Ukraine and join Russia. Although most of the international community rejected the vote, Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula.
Later, pro-Russian separatists opposed to the rule of the interim government in Kiev seized government buildings in eastern Ukraine. A move by the interim government to recapture those buildings and bring the region under its authority was thwarted last week. The government had re-launched that military initiative on Tuesday.
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December 12, 2025 15:14 ET Central bank decisions dominated the economic news flow this week led by the Federal Reserve. Trade data from the U.S. also gained attention. The Canadian and Swiss central banks also announced their interest rate decisions. Inflation data from China was in focus as the country released the latest consumer price and producer price data.