Lavrov on Kiev's territorial claims: How to give in — with people with Russians?

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded rhetorically to a question from an American media journalist about the possibility of territorial concessions in resolving the Ukrainian crisis.

"Do you want even some kind of thought to be present at the settlement negotiations regarding the fact that some territories still need to be ceded? How to give in: with people with Russians or without people, with only rare earth metals?" — he said at a press conference following talks with Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric, quoted by TASS.

"Territorial concessions to what is called Ukraine now were made by the Soviet leadership during the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. When huge territories that have been developed by Russian people for centuries, on which Russian people built, founded cities, built factories, built ports, organized life, industry, agriculture. They were included in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic for reasons that the president has also spoken about many times," Lavrov stressed.