Lavrov Humiliated After Claiming Ukraine Launched War Against Russia – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was heckled by audience members at the G20 Summit in New Delhi, India, on Thursday.
The Russian official used his time on stage to argue in defense of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, arguing that they were not the aggressors.
Parroting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s argument that Russia was provoked into launching his so-called “Special Military Operation,” Lavrov said that the war was “launched against us.”
His comments came after a member of the audience asked the Russian official how the war had affected Russia’s strategy on energy, and whether Asia – and India more specifically – will now play a bigger role in it.
“You know, the war, which we are trying to stop, which was launched against us using…” Lavrov began, before members of the audience began laughing loudly and jeering.
Lavrov tried to finish his point, stating, “the Ukrainian people, uh, of course influenced…”
As the crowd continued to heckle him, Lavrov added that Russia’s energy strategy will be to “not rely on any partners,” suggesting Russia plans to be as self-dependent as possible in the future.
Lavrov was taking part in the Raisina Dialogue 2023 series, which was hosted by the chairman of the Observer Research Foundation, Sunjoy Joshi.
While Lavrov remained calm and collected throughout the incident, the reactions to his comment reveal just how much international pressure Russia is up against.
While the Kremlin insists it is “trying to end the war,” with the Russian president insisting Moscow will come to the negotiating table so long as Ukraine accepts all of Russia’s territorial demands, few world leaders believe that Russia is making any real effort to bring the conflict to an end.
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