MOSCOW, August 19. /TASS/. Russia has never set an objective of seizing Crimea, Donbass or Novorossiya, as the main task was to protect the Russian people, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.
"I want to stress once again that we never spoke about seizing any territories. Neither Crimea, nor Donbass, nor Novorossiya as territories have ever been our goal," Lavrov said in an interview with Russia’s Rossiya-24 television channel.
"Our goal was to protect the people, the Russian people, who had lived on these lands for centuries, who discovered these lands, shed their blood for them both in Crimea and in Donbass, founded cities - Odessa, Nikolayev and many others as well as ports, plants and factories," he stated.
Lavrov has said that if Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky is serious about his country upholding its Constitution, he should start with the document’s first articles, which guarantee the rights of the Russian-speaking population.
"Zelensky, speaking in Washington, said, 'I would be ready to negotiate, but I will not even discuss any territories, because the Constitution does not let me'," the Russian foreign minister continued.
