Russia's top diplomat on Saturday said regions of Ukraine where widely-derided referendums are being held would be under Russia's full protection if they are annexed by Moscow, amid fears that Russia could escalate the conflict and even use nuclear weapons.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking to the UN General Assembly and world media in New York, attempted to justify Russia's invasion of its neighbor in February, repeating Moscow's false claims that the elected government in Kyiv was illegitimately installed, filled with neo-Nazis and oppressed Russian speakers in the country's east.
Russia has launched referendums in four eastern Ukrainian regions aimed at annexing territory it has taken by force. Kyiv said residents were being coerced into voting and were not allowed to leave the regions during the four-day vote, which Western nations dismissed as a sham designed to justify an escalation of the seven-month old war.
After the referendums, Russia will respect the expression of the will of those people who have been suffering from the abuses of the Neo-Nazi regime for many years, Lavrov said at a news conference after he spoke to the assembly.
Asked if Russia would have grounds for using nuclear weapons to defend annexed regions of Ukraine, Lavrov said Russian territory, including territory that is further enshrined in Russia's constitution in the future, is under the full protection of the state. All of the laws, doctrines, concepts and strategies of the Russian Federation apply to all of its territory, including Russia's doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons.