MOSCOW — Russia on Friday rejected talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and made it clear that it was seeking to topple his democratically elected government, which Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov said was steered by “neo-Nazis” and the West.
“We do not see the possibility of recognizing as democratic a government that persecutes and uses methods of genocide against its own people,” Mr. Lavrov said during a news conference in Moscow.
Moscow also vowed that the conflict would soon be over.
“Russia cannot allow Ukraine to become a dagger raised above us in the hands of Washington,” the head of Russia’s foreign intelligence agency, Sergei Naryshkin, said in a brief address aired on Russian state television. “The special military operation will restore peace in Ukraine within a short amount of time and prevent a potential larger conflict in Europe.”
Russian propaganda falsely claims that “neo-Nazis” controlling Ukraine’s government are perpetrating a genocide against Russian speakers in the country. President Vladimir V. Putin said Thursday that the purpose of Russia’s attack on Ukraine was to demilitarize and “denazify” Ukraine, and Mr. Lavrov repeated those terms on Friday, making it clear that Russia was seeking to install a new government in Kyiv.
“What we’re talking about is preventing Nazis and those who push methods of genocide to rule in this country,” Mr. Lavrov said. “Right now, the regime that is located in Kyiv is under two mechanisms of external...
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