Tucker’s interview with Sergey Lavrov

Tucker Carlson first unveiled Wednesday that he had traveled to Moscow to interview Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and the full interview has subsequently been published Thursday night.

Among the most important messages conveyed was directed by Lavrov toward Washington and its allies, which “must understand that we would be ready to use any means not to allow them to succeed in what they call strategic defeat of Russia.” [In other words, the Ukraine war is existential for Russia in the sense that they feel they cannot lose it without also losing their sovereignty and place in the world. Any and all means will be used to this end.]

And referencing Russia’s recent use of its Oreshnik hypersonic missile, Lavrov expressed hope that Kiev’s backers took “seriously” the new weapon, for which Russia says there is no defense, as Moscow remains ready to use “any means” to defend itself. “We are sending signals and we hope that the last one, a couple of weeks ago, the signal with the new weapons system called Oreshnik… was taken seriously,” Lavrov emphasized. Full interview:

The very opening question posed by Tucker got straight to the main point which is surely on the minds of many viewers:

Tucker Carlson: Minister Lavrov, thank you for doing this. Do you believe the United States and Russia are at war with each other right now?

Sergey Lavrov: I wouldn’t say so. And in any case, this is not what we want. We would like to have normal relations with all our neighbors, of course, but generally with all countries especially with the great country like the United States. And President Vladimir Putin repeatedly expressed his respect for the American people, for the American history, for the American achievements in the world, and we don’t see any reason why Russia and the United States cannot cooperate for the sake of the universe.

Tucker Carlson: But the United States is funding a conflict that you’re involved in, of course, and now is allowing attacks on Russia itself. So that doesn’t constitute war?

Sergey Lavrov: Well, we officially are not at war. But what is going on in Ukraine is that some people call it hybrid war. I would call it hybrid war as well, but it is obvious that the Ukrainians would not be able to do what they’re doing with long-range modern weapons without direct participation of the American servicemen. And this is dangerous, no doubt about this.

We don’t want to aggravate the situation, but since ATACMS and other long-range weapons are being used against mainland Russia as it were, we are sending signals. We hope that the last one, a couple of weeks ago, the signal with the new weapon system called Oreshnik was taken seriously.

In the context of these statements he invoked the undesired and catastrophic possibility of the standoff between Russia and NATO entering nuclear territory:

“The message which we wanted to sell in testing, in real action, this hyper sonic system is that we will be ready to do anything to defend our legitimate interest. We hate even to think about war with the United States which will take nuclear character… [but] since some people in Washington … seem to be not very capable to understand [Russia’s interests], we will send additional messages if they don’t draw necessary conclusions.”

And other interesting moment came when the top Russian diplomat outlined his country’s motives in Ukraine vs. Washington’s…

“They fight to maintain global hegemony over every region, while we fight for our legitimate security interests. Senator Lindsey Graham even said Ukraine’s rare earth metals must not be left to Russia—openly admitting their goal is resource exploitation. They support a regime willing to give away natural and human resources. We fight for the people whose ancestors built and developed these lands for centuries.”

“In any case, this is not what we wanted,” he elsewhere said on the question of war. “We would like to have normal relations with all our neighbors—but generally, with all countries, especially a great country like the United States.”

…”We don’t see any reason why Russia and the United States cannot cooperate together for the sake of the universe,” Lavrov emphasized in a key moment.

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Some highlights…

“An Invitation to Disaster”: Sergey Lavrov commented on talk of a limited exchange of nuclear strikes between the US and Russia in the interview…

Escalation fears… the central question

Russia’s real key condition for lasting peace in Ukraine

Biden administration is seeking to leave as big a mess at it can for incoming Trump administration

The permanence of the Russia-China alliance in the face of Washington aggression

Cooperation for the sake of the peace of the universe

Continue by watching the full interview here.