Lavrov accuses U.S. of double standards over Golan Heights, Donbas

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday accused the U.S. of double standards over its approach to the Golan Heights and the Donbas region in Ukraine.

Asked at a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York to comment on U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield's seemingly self-contradictory remarks on the need to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all UN member states and on U.S. recognition of Israel's sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, Lavrov first read a Russian statement on the Donbas.

"The Donbas is very important to Russia's security. As long as Zelenskyy is in power in Ukraine, as long as NATO is present in Ukraine, militia groups backed by NATO, the Zelenskyy regime itself – all of these pose a significant security threat to Russia, and as a practical matter, the control of the Donbas in that situation, I think, remains of real importance to Russia's security. Legal questions are something else. And over time, if the situation were to change in Ukraine, that's something we'd look at. But we are nowhere near as that," said Lavrov.

He then read the text of an interview by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken with Wolf Blitzer of CNN on February 8, 2021: "As a practical matter, the Golan is very important to Israel's security. As long as Assad is in power in Syria, as long as Iran is present in Syria, militia groups backed by Iran, the Assad regime itself – all of these pose a significant security threat to Israel, and as a practical matter, the control of the Golan in that situation, I think, remains of real importance to Israel's security. Legal questions are something else."

"And that's the answer to your question," said Lavrov.

Thomas-Greenfield, in a press briefing on September 14 on her country's priorities at this year's high-level week of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), said, "During this year's UNGA, we will work to uphold the principles enshrined in the UN Charter, including respect for the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of all member states."

At the same briefing, when asked about the Golan Heights, she said her country's recognition of Israel's sovereignty over the territory has not changed. In March 2019, then U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the territory that Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and annexed it in 1981.

Immediately after Israel's annexation of the occupied territory in 1981, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 497, which declared that the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights "is null and void and without international legal effect."

(With input from Xinhua)