Putin's right-hand man brazenly claims Russia never aimed to seize territory in Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has brazenly claimed that Russia never sought to seize Ukrainian territories, but only wanted to protect the Russian people. It was Mr Lavrov, one of Vladimir Putin's closest allies, who was one of the several to arrive in Alaska ahead of the high-profile summit between the Kremlin's leader and US President Donald Trump last Friday. As he left his car, the right-hand man of the Russian leader was spotted wearing a white T-shirt with the word 'CCCP', the Cyrillic for USSR.

Now, in an interview on the Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, cited by the Kremlin-aligned news agency RBC (RosBusinessConsulting), Mr Lavrov, 75, said: "I want to emphasise once again that we have never said we just need to seize some territories. Neither Crimea, nor Donbas, nor Novorossiya ["New Russia" - what Russians call Ukraine] as territories have ever been our goal." He went on to claim that Moscow has "always wanted to protect the Russian people who have lived in the above-mentioned territories for hundreds of years".

The Russian Foreign Minister also said that during Volodymyr Zelensky's presidency, Ukraine apparently "passed laws that aimed to destroy the rights of Russian speakers", but did not provide any details.

"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'," Mr Lavrov continued. "If he really cares about his Constitution, then he should start with its first articles, where this obligation is enshrined."

Russia invaded and occupied Ukraine's Crimea and part of Donbas back in 2014. Then, in 2022, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Even in these early days, Russian propagandists were actively spreading claims that Russia would "capture Kyiv in three days" and that Russian soldiers advancing on Kyiv had dress uniforms with them so that they could parade down Kyiv's main street, Khreshchatyk, when the time was up.

Mr Lavrov's choice of outfit for the Alaska summit appears to have reiterated the fears many nations, including the Baltic States, have been voicing in recent months: that Putin is interested in reinstating Soviet borders as much as possible.

Journalist Jon Sopel wrote on X: "Bloody hell. Lavrov arrives in Alaska with a T-shirt with CCCP, the Cyrillic letters for the USSR.

"In other words, when the Baltic states and Ukraine and the Central Asian republics were under Moscow's control. If this is a statement of intent, it's quite something."

Mr Lavrov has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation since March 2004, making him the country's longest-serving foreign minister since the Soviet era. He also served as Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1994 to 2004, where he gained a reputation for assertively defending Russian interests during crises, including the Kosovo War (1998-99) and the Iraq invasion (2003).