Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov compared the actions of US President Joe Biden to how Napoleon and Hitler gathered European countries against Russia. He said this at a press conference on the results of Russian diplomacy in 2024.
Lavrov: “History repeats itself”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov commented on US President Joe Biden’s words that the US “put 50 NATO countries under arms” to help Ukraine. “History repeats itself,” Lavrov said and drew a parallel with Napoleon and Hitler: “Napoleon captured Europe and put everyone under arms to go and defeat Russia, the Russian Empire… The same thing happened with Hitler’s Germany, when dozens of countries occupied by the Germans sent their troops to destroy and annihilate the Soviet Union.”
According to Lavrov, the outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden wants to “screw over” the elected US President Donald Trump. “Now in the Biden administration, the Democrats have such manners in politics, one last time “screw over” the next administration, as Barack Obama did three weeks before Donald Trump’s inauguration in his first term, when he kicked out 120 Russian employees of diplomatic institutions,” Lavrov said.
The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry also stated that Trump openly admitted that NATO had violated all previous agreements with Russia concerning global security in general and Ukraine in particular. He recalled that within the framework of agreements between countries, including within the OSCE, no country should have strengthened its security at the expense of other states. And, as Lavrov summed up, the North Atlantic Alliance is now violating these agreements.
Three most probable scenarios
As we can see, pro-government politicians in Russia welcome Donald Trump’s new presidential term, and opposition forces comment on the Republican victory cautiously, but not hyper-negatively. Today, Putin’s main problem is that none of the Western leaders, including Trump, have a plan to end the war that would be even vaguely acceptable to Russia. However, the shift to the right in Western politics that occurred due to Trump’s victory in the presidential election gives the Russian authorities a real chance to change the aforementioned trend.
After almost three years of war, it is obvious that Russia has achieved a significant military advantage: it has a large number of weapons and soldiers and holds the initiative on the battlefield. At the same time, there are three most likely scenarios for the development of further events. The first is the military scenario. Despite the advancement at the front, Russia currently does not have enough soldiers and equipment to capture large cities in Ukraine. Therefore, in this scenario, the maximum that Russia can get is a slow advance of the front with fairly large losses.
The second scenario involves Kyiv’s capitulation as a result of the arrival of a new government in Ukraine that is ready to take responsibility for the ceasefire. In this case, not only a ceasefire should take place, but also the acceptance of the entire range of Kremlin demands, including neutral status. This scenario is the most advantageous for Russia, but is quite unlikely for the reason that the West does not support it. And the third scenario concerns global changes in the West, as a result of which those who are ready to find a compromise that suits both Moscow and Kyiv will come to power.
Will Putin and Trump meet?
Let us emphasize: we are not talking about an artificial change of power in Ukraine or the establishment of a puppet regime; what is expected is only the coming to power of adequate pragmatists who are ready to come to effective agreements. Many things indicate that Trump’s return to the presidential chair increases the chances of the third scenario being implemented. Moreover, the Kremlin is ready for a new strategic breakthrough, the goal of which is to turn the tide of the war and end Ukrainian resistance. At the same time, it is known that the Russian authorities are waiting for Trump’s first steps, realizing that the ball is in Washington’s court.
It is highly likely that a meeting between Putin and Trump could take place in the coming months. Trump has already said that he wants to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin as soon as possible. At the same time, he noted that he first needs to take office. Trump’s National security advisor Mike Waltz said that the United States has already begun preparations for negotiations with Russia, and in the “coming days or weeks” a telephone conversation between the leaders of the United States and Russia will take place. The press secretary of the Russian leader Dmitry Peskov confirmed Putin’s readiness for the meeting and conversation.
