“The operation in eastern Ukraine is aimed at the complete liberation of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics, as announced from the beginning. This operation will continue. The next phase of this operation is beginning and I think it will be an important moment,” he said in an interview for the India Today television channel.

In his remarks to the Indian press, the Russian Foreign Minister further stated that it is impossible for Moscow to tolerate the permissiveness of Western countries, which led Ukraine towards russophobia.

Lavrov pointed out that the victims of the current conflict cannot be ignored, but recalled that everything that happened began when Russia decided to protect ethnic Russians who were citizens of Ukraine and faced discrimination.

“No one objected when Raqqa (Syria) was razed to the ground, the city was bombed, there was colossal damage,” he said, and cited attacks on targets in Afghanistan and Iraq as other examples. “Of course, it is always a tragedy when people die, but it is impossible to tolerate a situation when our Western partners claim that they can do whatever they want and that they can encourage the Kiev government to practice russophobia,” he said.

In another part of the dialogue, Lavrov stressed that Russia will clarify the truth about what happened in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, where civilians were massacred and Russian troops were accused of doing so, which was vehemently denied by the Russian government.

He also pointed out that Russia has formed a special commission to investigate “the atrocities committed by the neo-Nazi battalions and the Armed Forces of Ukraine”; in particular, it investigated the crimes committed by the White Helmets in Syria and other cases.

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