Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that “the United States can cheat at any moment,” claiming Russia had experienced this when the Western military alliance NATO expanded eastward.

“I want to emphasize that everyone knows very well that the United States can cheat at any moment, and much more often they cheat than they keep their own promises, their own proposals,” Lavrov said as he addressed a press conference following talks with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto.

Lavrov claimed this deception was seen when former Soviet and Russian Federation Presidents Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin “were assured that NATO would not expand,” he added.

Russia has long complained that it was deceived by Western nations at the end of the Cold War and into the 1990s into believing that NATO would not expand eastward toward its territory.

Analysts say, however, that the USSR was never offered any formal guarantee on limits to NATO expansion and that the “betrayal narrative” is designed to provoke anti-Western sentiment.

Lavrov’s latest comments, reported by state news agency Tass and news outlet RIA Novosti, and translated by Google, come as he carries out a tour of Latin American countries this week, a trip seen as a way for Russia to cement its alliances with countries in the region.

Lavrov characterized Russia as the “world champion” in terms of the number of sanctions imposed by the West, and said Moscow would share its experience of avoiding their impact with Venezuela, a country that has been under Western sanctions for several years for a variety of reasons.

“I am convinced that our experience will also be useful to our Venezuelan friends, because we are now world champions in terms of the number of sanctions and we are accumulating experience quickly. So we will share it with our Venezuelan colleagues,” Lavrov said.

— Holly Ellyatt

The G-7 reemphasized the bloc’s support for Ukraine and criticized Russia’s threat to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus, it said in a communique on Tuesday.

Any use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons by Russia in Ukraine would face “severe consequences,” the ministers said following their meeting in Karuizawa, Japan.

The G-7 also denounced Russia’s “seizure and militarization” of Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant as a threat to nuclear security. Russia’s repeated shelling of the plant last year raised concerns from the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog about the risk of a major nuclear disaster.

The G-7 added it will continue to intensify sanctions against Russia and take action against third parties who assist Russian war efforts in Ukraine.

— Audrey Wan

NATO held its first-ever joint exercise with Finland since the nation joined the military alliance earlier this month. German and Portuguese ships participated alongside the Finnish navy in the exercise in the Gulf of Finland.

Finland submitted a bid to join the world’s most powerful military alliance on the heels of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

— Amanda Macias

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited service members on the front lines in the country’s Donetsk region.

“It is a pleasure for me to see you, shake your strong hands and know that you hold the future of Ukraine in your hands. I am proud to have this meeting. I am proud that there are such strong people in Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said, according to a readout provided by the Ukrainian government.

“Things happen thanks to you. Take care. Our future depends on you,” he added.

While in Donetsk, Zelenskyy also met with wounded troops in a local hospital dedicated to treating service members with combat-related injuries.

“Thank you for your service. I wish you a speedy recovery. All the best to you,” Zelenskyy said, according to a readout of his visit. He also presented some troops with service medals.

— Amanda Macias

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov shared a video of the French-made AMX-10 armored fighting vehicles, slated to make their combat debut with Ukraine’s marines.

“We took it for a spin together with our warriors, and we agreed to call the AMX-10 the ‘sniper rifle on the fast wheels,'” Reznikov said in a tweet.

“Thank you to my colleague Sebastien Lecornu and to [President] Emmanuel Macron with whom I had a chance to meet and to discuss our priorities and needs. And of course, thank you to all people of France for your strong support,” he added.

— Amanda Macias

Ukraine is rejecting reports that Russian inspectors have restarted inspections of export ships under the Black Sea grain deal.

“Nothing has been resolved. There are no inspections,” Reuters quoted an unnamed Ukrainian official as saying.

Earlier on Tuesday, Russian state news agency RIA cited a Russian foreign ministry official saying that Russian inspections of grain ships leaving Ukraine had restarted.

A deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain was renewed in mid-March for at least 60 days — just half of the intended period — after Russia warned that any further extension beyond mid-May would depend on the removal of some Western sanctions.

Ukraine, an agricultural powerhouse, was one of the world’s top exporters of grain and other produce like corn and sunflower oil before Russia’s invasion. A Russian naval blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports caused a spike in prices of those goods worldwide and stoked fears of food crises in parts of the developing world.

— Natasha Turak