Foreign Minister Lavrov gives reason for Ukraine Crisis and expresses support for ‘Russian World’

The crisis in Ukraine resulted from Ukrainian leaders attempting to make the country “sit on two chairs [at once],” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in an interview for a film commemorating extreme nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

The “two chairs” are Russia and the EU. By attempting to deepen its ties with the EU, Ukraine is turning away from Russia and “pulling the country towards the West against the wishes of the [Ukrainian] people,” says Lavrov. The minister believes this causing Ukraine to “split.”

The Foreign Minister expressed a similar view in late 2013.

Lavrov expressed support for the “Russian World” concept—which Vladimir Putin invoked to justify Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Lavrov said the concept “reflected Russia's multinational culture.”

The Russian World concept asserts a transnational society exists, which is unified with Russia by similar language and culture. Vladimir Putin invoked the concept when he said Russia had a right to protect Russian speakers in Ukraine. “Russia retains the right to protect its interests and the Russian-speaking population of [eastern Ukraine or Crimea],” Putin told US President Barack Obama in March 2014.