European NATO members want the country's government to remain a "Nazi regime" hostile to Russia, the foreign minister has said

European NATO states are working to maintain the "Russophobic" regime in Ukraine by finding another "half-Fuhrer" to replace Vladimir Zelensky if he loses his power, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

In an interview published on Monday by Kommersant, Lavrov stated that while the Western powers are talking about sending peacekeepers to Ukraine, they are not seeking a real settlement and are instead trying to maintain the country as an anti-Russian foothold.

"They have come up with a 'resilience force'... In other words, in order to maintain Ukraine's resilience, they are not going to send blockade troops... but the military of 'civilized' Western countries," Lavrov explained.

These troops will protect "the same regime" he said, adding that even if European NATO members agree to allow a new election in Ukraine, they will make every effort to make sure that the political landscape remains the same.

"Europe will do everything to ensure the regime does not change in its essence," Lavrov said. "They'll find some new half-Fuhrer... but the essence of the regime will remain."

Zelensky's presidential term expired in May 2024, but the Ukrainian leader refused to call new elections, citing martial law. Russia has declared him "illegitimate," claiming that under these circumstances, the true legal authority lies with the Ukrainian parliament.

Lavrov went on to say that instead of pressuring Zelensky to stop suppressing Russian language rights, European countries insist on supporting Kiev to the bitter end.

"All these peacekeeping schemes drawn up by the Macrons and Starmers are based on the need to preserve at least a piece of land where a Nazi, openly Russophobic regime will remain, geared towards preparing another war against Russia, as was done with the Minsk agreements," Lavrov said.

He was referring to a now-defunct deal first reached in 2014 which was designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. Former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko has since admitted that Kiev's main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and "create powerful armed forces" - which was later echoed by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Francois Hollande.

Russia has warned against the deployment of unauthorized peacekeepers to Ukraine, saying they will be regarded as legitimate targets. Lavrov earlier stated that Moscow opposes the idea of NATO troops in Ukraine regardless of whether they are "under a foreign flag, under the flag of the European Union, or national flags."