Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov was recently interviewed by the Rossiya television network on Monday, during which time he shed some light on his country’s evolving stance towards the EU. The top diplomat reaffirmed that his country commenced its ongoing special military operation in Ukraine in order to stop the US’ efforts to impose its unipolar hegemonic vision onto Russia by exploiting that former Soviet Republic as its military-strategic springboard. EU foreign policy chief Borrell scandalously said while in Kiev that the Ukrainian Conflict can only be resolved through military means, which Lavrov noted “marks a serious change in the rules of the game” by tacitly declaring the EU a military organization.

He built upon this observation by concluding that it represents the convergence of the EU with NATO, which he said is being promoted by the Baltic States, Denmark, and Poland. Lavrov also shared his reaction to German President Steinmeier’s war criminal accusation against him and President Putin. The Russian Foreign Minister said that the real war criminals are Kiev and its Neo-Nazi accomplices in the conflict, not anyone in his own country, let alone its leadership. Lavrov also clarified that Steinmeier wasn’t telling the whole truth when he also said that he worked on Ukraine more than on any other country.

What the German President didn’t reveal was that the EU Association Agreement with Ukraine that former President Yanukovich delayed signing would have allowed his bloc’s products to exploit that former Soviet Republic’s previous free trade pact with Russia to enter his country’s economy via that route. Moscow informed Kiev that it would be compelled to set up tariff barriers in response, which Yanukovich wisely realized would have harmed his country’s economy, hence the reason why he delayed signing the agreement in an attempt to devise a solution between all parties: the EU, Ukraine, and Russia. That event, however, was exploited as the trigger for setting “EuroMaidan” into motion.

It was none other than Steinmeier who signed the crisis’ settlement agreement on behalf of Germany the EU that was then torn to shreds literally a day later when the coup against that former Ukrainian leader was carried out. The German President didn’t mention this in his remarks that Lavrov analyzed more in depth, nor did he talk about how Kiev subsequently attacked Donbass after that region refused to recognize the legitimacy of the coup that just transpired. The earlier described convergence of the EU with NATO is also evidenced by Germany allocating a whopping 100 billion euros to its military for the first time in history. With Berlin de facto leading the bloc, this raises questions about its intentions.

Lavrov then segued into describing the Bucha and Kramatorsk incidents as provocations that were carried out with the support of Western intelligence services, just like those same services also support their proxies in Kiev carrying out mass killings and other war crimes. Nevertheless, Russia’s top diplomat insisted that he has proof that debunks the US-led West’s false narrative of those events, and that it’s precisely because of this that they aren’t as widely discussed in the media anymore as before, especially the Kramatorsk incident. Lavrov also revealed that his country’s intelligence services have evidence that Kiev is plotting more provocations with the support of its Western intelligence patrons too.

Finally, the Foreign Minister lamented the rise of Russophobia all across the West, which he said “shows (as a US scholar put it) that ‘latent racism’ is alive and well in Europe. At one time, Adolf Hitler mobilised his own society and other European countries against the Jews (and Slavs, for that matter). Now the command to attack is against Russians.  The gloves have come off, the pretense and political correctness are gone. Nothing remains.” He promised that Russia will always push back against this hateful trend and remains committed to doing its utmost to ensure that its compatriots’ human rights are respected in line with international law.

Overall, Lavrov’s latest TV remarks prove that Russia’s stance towards the EU has evolved from considering it a partner to a potential “frenemy” to a NATO-controlled American proxy against his country. This was a long time in the making and can most directly be traced to the EU and especially Germany’s duplicitous role in the 2014 Ukrainian Coup and all that followed. Dwelling on the insight that he shared, it becomes abundantly clear that Russian-EU relations are irreparably ruined and likely won’t ever return to their halcyon days of the early 2000s. This observation adds credence to the expectation that Russia will rapidly reorient itself towards the Global South across the coming years.