Moscow’s top diplomat says the U.S. wants Ukraine to win on the battlefield because it believes such a victory would weaken or even destroy Russia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the state-owned news agency TASS on Tuesday that it’s no secret the U.S. and NATO are using the conflict as a mechanism to cause trouble for the government of President Vladimir Putin.
“The actions by the collective West and their puppet [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy confirm the global nature of the Ukrainian crisis,” Mr. Lavrov told TASS. “Our opponents will do just about anything to achieve this goal.”
U.S. officials have said their goal is to help secure Ukraine’s territorial integrity and have denied that Washington is seeking further conflict with Moscow.
Mr. Lavrov said the U.S. would be the main beneficiary of a “hot conflict” and Washington plans to come out ahead economically and strategically following a Ukrainian victory.
“Washington has also been solving a key geopolitical goal of breaking the traditional bonds between Russia and Europe and making their European satellites even more dependent on them,” he told TASS.