Lavrov makes Napoleon and Hitler comparison over Ukraine
Washington has succeeded where Europe-conquering dictators of the past have failed, as evidenced by its ability to bend the policies of European governments to its will, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov alleged on Thursday.
“I can't help but make these comparisons. In the past, Napoleon and Hitler had the goal to subjugate Europe. Now the Americans have subjugated it,” he remarked.
As an example of Washington deciding “what's best” for Europe, Lavrov mentioned the lengthy American campaign to torpedo the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Berlin suspended certification of the fully-completed project as part of anti-Russian sanctions over Moscow’s attack on Ukraine.
Washington has been trying to stop the project for years, claiming it undermined European energy safety and suggesting that deliveries of American liquified natural gas were a more preferable option, despite its greater price, the Russian minister pointed out.
“The European Union has been shown its place. The Nord Stream 2 story has shown perfectly the real place that the EU has on the world stage,” Lavrov asserted.
Lavrov was speaking amid the worst escalation of tensions between Russia and Western nations that the world has seen in decades. Moscow launched an offensive against Ukraine last week, calling it a necessary step to push NATO out of its neighbor and secure Russian national security.
The US and its allies called the invasion an unprovoked act of aggression and imposed harsh sanctions, which are aimed at crippling the Russian economy. Europeans are set to pay a price for the sanctions, with rising energy costs driving inflation up, EU officials predict.
The top Russian diplomat remarked that the Western narrative about the conflict resembled a Hollywood film about an epic battle of absolute good versus absolute evil, with the part of the good “embodied in the character, who is also the script writer.”
