Lavrov: Blinken omitted something in message delivered through Egypt

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated, on Tuesday, that the message delivered through his Egyptian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry from the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, only contained calls requesting Russia to "quit and stop."

When asked by a TASS correspondent whether Shoukry delivered a message from the US to Russia through Egypt, Lavrov confirmed and noted that "Russia is ready to listen to any serious proposal that is aimed at resolving the current situation in its comprehensive context."

However, Lavrov highlighted that the message delivered by Egypt was "to the effect that Russia should stop, that Russia should quit, and then everything will be fine." Lavrov, nevertheless, emphasized that "Blinken omitted something."

According to the Russian Foreign Minister, "The other part of the message, showing the true interest of the United States and the West, was stated by NATO Secretary General Mr. [Jens] Stoltenberg, when he was in the Republic of Korea yesterday," where Stoltenberg said, "that Russia must lose, must be defeated, and that the West cannot afford to let Ukraine lose, because in that case, he argued, the West will lose and the whole world will lose."

In that regard, Lavrov explained that the NATO chief spoke not only on behalf of the NATO alliance but also "took the liberty" of speaking "on behalf of all other countries of the world."

"Everything is quite clear here. It’s not about Ukraine at all," Lavrov said adding that "the Kiev regime, which has no independence, fulfills the will of the sovereign - the United States and the rest of the West, which Washington has subjugated - not permit any events in the international arena that would somehow call into question the US claims to hegemony in the modern world."

NATO chief vows more heavy weapons for Ukraine in 'crucial phase'

Stoltenberg said, in an interview for German media, that Western countries are likely to provide more heavy weaponry to Ukraine in the near future.

Kiev has long pushed for heavier weaponry, including tanks, despite warnings that Western weapons being supplied to Ukraine, including Javelin anti-tank systems, are sold on the black market, most notably in Africa.

"We are in a crucial phase of the war," Stoltenberg said. "It is therefore important that we provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs to win," he further stressed.

The NATO chief claimed that military assistance to Ukraine is the quickest path to peace, and he lauded the US and German choices to arm Ukrainian troops with armored personnel carriers, as well as France's preparedness to deliver light combat tanks to Ukraine.

The NATO Secretary-General further stated that during the upcoming allies conference on January 20 at the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany, further decisions about Western weaponry shipments to Kiev will have to be made.

"The recent commitments for heavy hardware are important - and I expect more in the near future," Stoltenberg told Handelsblatt daily.

Earlier, Armin Papperger, CEO of German defense manufacturer Rheinmetall, stated that his business possesses 22 Leopard 2 tanks and 88 Leopard 1 tanks but that preparing them for transportation to Ukraine would take roughly a year.

It is worth noting that NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg claimed in December that Moscow is preparing to prolong the war in Ukraine, stressing that the alliance's member states should keep the flow of arms to Kiev.

Read more: War in Ukraine: A conflict that will decide the global system's fate