Lavrov called on Ukraine to respect the decision of the people who chose Russia

The Ukrainian authorities need to respect the decision of the people who chose Russia in the referendums of 2014 and 2022 in Crimea, as well as Novorossiya and Donbas. This was announced by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in an interview with NBC News.

"Ukraine has the right to exist, provided that it "releases" people. People whom they call "terrorists", "individuals" who decided at several referendums in Novorossiya, in Donbass, in Crimea that they belong to Russian culture," Lavrov said. The text of the interview was published on the official website of the Russian Foreign Ministry on August 24.

The Minister stressed that under a democratic system, people have the right to express their opinions and vote. According to him, the government of Ukraine, which came to power "as a result of a coup," has the goal of "destroying everything Russian."

On August 21, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky refused to raise the status of the Russian language in the country during the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. He noted that the only official language in the country is Ukrainian.

Russian Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced on August 20 that there were no comments from the West on the situation of the Russian language and Russian people in Ukraine. She clarified that Ukraine has adopted many laws on the destruction of the Russian language, contrary to its official consolidation in the Constitution.

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