In the five months since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, Russian officials’ statements about the Kremlin’s goals have changed several times.
“Russia will help Ukrainians to get rid of a completely anti-citizen and anti-historical regime,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made such a statement on July 24 at a meeting in Cairo with permanent representatives of the member countries of the League. of the Arab States. Meanwhile, less than three months ago, the head of Russian diplomacy announced something completely different: Moscow’s goal is to protect the population of Donbass, and the Kremlin is not working for a change of power in Kyiv.
July: “another geography” and “removal of the anti-people regime”
According to Lavrov, the Ukrainian and Russian people “will continue to live together,” and “Russia will help the Ukrainian people to get rid of the “completely anti-human and anti-historical regime.”
Earlier, on July 20, in an interview with RT, Lavrov said that the task, as he said, “of the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine – in the sense that there are no threats to our security, military threats from the territory of Ukraine,” is for Moscow remains. However, now “the geography is different,” he added: “It’s not only the “DNR” and “LNR”, it’s also the Kherson region, the Zaporozhye region and some other territories.”
In the Ukrainian media, this statement by the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry caused a strong reaction related to the assumption that “Russia is preparing the ground for the annexation of southern Ukraine.”
May: the goal of changing power in Kyiv is not worth it
Russia’s goal is “to ensure the security of the people of eastern Ukraine, so that they are not threatened by either the militarization or nazification of this country, and that there are no threats to the security of the Russian Federation from the territory of Ukraine, ” Sergei Lavrov explained in an interview with the Italian television company Mediaset on May 1. This is his first contact with European TV journalists since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
When asked if Russia wanted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to surrender, Lavrov said: “We are not asking him to surrender. We are asking him to give the order to release all civilians and stop fighting. It is not included in our goal regime change in Ukraine. It’s an American specialty. They do it all over the world.”
Later, on May 31, in a meeting with the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Hussein Ibrahim Taha, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed the opinion that “Western colleagues”, using the situation in Ukraine , wants to interfere. in the processes of “building a multipolar world” and for this “are trying to mobilize under their banners all other countries.”
April: confrontation with the USA
On April 11, Sergey Lavrov outlined the goals of the Russian Federation as follows: “Our special military operation is designed to end the reckless expansion of the course towards the complete domination of the United States and, under it, the rest of the Western countries in the international arena.” At the same time, Lavrov pointed out that the West has made Ukraine “a springboard for the final suppression of Russia”, while Russia “will never occupy a subordinate position.”
Later, on April 24, Aleksey Polishchuk, director of the second department of the CIS countries of the Russian Foreign Ministry, promised that “the special operation will end when its tasks are completed.” Among the latter, he called “the elimination of threats to Russia coming from the Ukrainian territory due to its development by NATO countries.”
End of March: “help to the people of DNR and LNR”
At the end of March, after the failure of the RF Armed Forces offensive against Kyiv, the rhetoric of Russian officials changed dramatically. From the point of view of military affairs, the “denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine” proclaimed by Moscow receded into the background. In the second stage of the conflict, according to the Ministry of Defense, Russia should focus on helping Donbass and resolving the conflict through negotiations.
On the evening of March 25, at a briefing at the Russian Ministry of Defense, the First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoy, summarizing the results of the first month of the conflict, noted that the main purpose of the “Russian special operation is to help the people of Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, who were subjected to genocide by the Kyiv regime”.
Meanwhile, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Igor Konashenkov, announced on March 30 at a briefing that “the Russian armed forces, in the course of a special military operation in Ukraine, completed all the main work in Kiev and Chernigov directions,” and “the purpose of the reunification of the Russian armed forces is to intensify operations in priority directions and, above all, to complete the operation for complete liberation of Donbass.
Beginning of March: “protection of the Russian Federation from Western military threats”
On March 1, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made an appeal, saying the following: “The main thing for us is to protect the Russian Federation from the military threat posed by Western countries that are trying to use the Ukrainian people in the fight against our country.”
Two weeks later, on March 16, Vladimir Putin, at a meeting on proposals for socio-economic support for the regions of the Russian Federation, said that Moscow had started a war against Kyiv because “all diplomatic possibilities are completely which is exhausted.” “We were not left with any options to peacefully solve the problems that arose through no fault of ours. And in this regard, we were forced to launch a special military operation,” he insisted.
“The appearance of Russian troops near Kyiv, other cities of Ukraine is not connected with the intention to occupy this country, we have no such intention,” added Putin. On March 19, Sergei Lavrov, listing the tasks set by Moscow in Ukraine, noted that one of them is to obtain security guarantees “based on the principle of indivisibility of common security for Ukraine, for Russia, for all European countries.”
February 24: “denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine”
Announcing the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and calling it a special operation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on February 24 that Russia’s main goal is “to protect people subjected to abuse, genocide by Kyiv regime for eight years.” “And for this we will work for the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine. As well as bringing to justice those who have committed many bloody crimes against civilians, including citizens of the Russian Federation,” Putin explained.
The next day, Sergei Lavrov added, for his part,: “President Putin decided to carry out a special military operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine in order, to free from this oppression, the Ukrainians themselves are free to determine their future.”
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.