Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday cited “American exceptionalism” as one of the main reasons for the current war in Ukraine.
A Kremlin official made the statement during an interview broadcast on Russian state television. In an English translation provided by RT, a state-controlled Russian outlet, Lavrov said it was the American government’s belief that the United States was a better nation that led Washington to wage a “proxy war” against Russia through the Ukraine.
Lavrov specifically mentioned “American exceptionalism,” which is the belief that American principles are inherently right. This faith has been named by many as a faith central to the nation’s identity.
He said that American leaders wrongly believe that the US is “an exceptional nation, unlike any other in the world,” and therefore try to lead the world in fear of “chaos” otherwise.
“This exceptionalism, this complete conviction of their infallibility and superiority-I am sure that it is the main reason that we are now facing the nations that proxy against us through the Kyiv regime,” Lavrov said, according to RT .
Photos by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images
During his interview, Lavrov referred to an opinion piece written by Jake Sullivan — national security adviser to President Joe Biden — published The Atlantic in 2019.
“No vision of American exceptionalism can succeed unless the United States overcomes the emerging vision that emphasizes ethnic and cultural identity,” Sullivan wrote in the story, as Lavrov noted.
The Russian official also referred to another quote from Sullivan that said: “The primary objective of American foreign policy must be to protect and defend the American way of life.”
Lavrov said that such statements are “horrible” and take away from other nations “the right to remember their history.”
He went on to claim that the US government applies this philosophy in its relations with other countries.
“Just as they melted in the pot everyone who came to America, now they want to melt everyone else, so they are basically Americans,” said the Foreign Minister.
Elsewhere in the interview, Lavrov criticized NATO for continuing to provide military and financial aid to Kyiv.
“The whole of NATO is fighting against us, and all those accusations and prejudices ‘that we are not fighting, but only arming’—this is offensive,” he said.
As he did before, Lavrov also claimed that the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky is being manipulated by Western countries.
News Week they contacted the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.
