13.02.2021, Moscow.
Western European politicians have double standards with regard to Russia that also manifests itself at the level of assessing historical facts, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview released on the Solovyov LIVE channel on February 12.
Lavrov recalled an episode from his professional life when, speaking at one of the Munich Security Conferences, he compared the reunification of Crimea with Russia to the historic reunification of East and West Germany.
The Russian foreign minister noted that after these words there were irritated retorts from the members of the German parliament about the unacceptability of equating the historical significance of these events.
“Regarding the double standards. In 2015, at a security conference in Munich, I mentioned this [the reunification of East and West Germany] in my speech and said that we [the USSR] did it consciously then, understanding the aspirations of the German people. I mentioned that it would be just as important for all other countries to respect the aspirations of the Russian people and treat the reunification of Crimea with Russia as a manifestation of the people’s desire,” Lavrov said.
At the same time, the diplomat stressed that before the return of Crimea to Russia, residents of the peninsula were given the opportunity to express their attitude towards this step in a nationwide referendum, while during the reunification of Germany no referendum was held.
Lavrov noted that after his reference to two similar historical events, when a divided nation found an opportunity for reunification, some participants in the international conference expressed discontent.
There [at the conference in Munich] there was hysteria – right out the German MPs start screaming, “How dare you compare these things!”, Lavrov shared.
The reunification of Crimea with Russia took place in 2014 at the request of the majority of residents of the peninsula, who declared it in a referendum. Crimeans rejected the armed coup d’etat that took place in Ukraine, when Bandera Nazis seized power in Kiev.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
