Thread by @zoyashef

Watched Lavrov interview. Full write-up here politico.eu/article/zelens….
This didn't fit in story but actually made me laugh out loud. Interviewer asks Russian foreign minister: "Given what’s happening in Ukraine, won’t this turn Ukrainians further away from Russia?"

Lavrov, answering an entirely different question, responds: “You know, we never had any issues with Ukrainians. I personally have a lot of Ukrainian friends, I love Ukrainian culture … I love the Ukrainian cuisine, I love Ukrainian humor, which is full of irony"

Russian FM Lavrov continues: "I am sure that the vast majority of our citizens, do not have any issues or problems with Ukrainian people, just as Ukrainian people never had any issues with Russia."

I. Mean.

https://twitter.com/YWNReporter/status/1503289329984102403

Oh, and Lavrov also has a lovely little anti-Semitic dog-whistle, complaining that Germany has only ever compensated people of "Jewish nationality" for the siege of Leningrad. "Because those were Jews they got some help from the German government," but others didn't.

Says Russia has appealed to Germany, who said "You know Jews are the victims of the Holocaust, and for everyone else, they don't get anything because they weren't victims of the Holocaust."

Wonder what comp the Russians are planning to give to the besieged in Mariupol...