MOSCOW. May 1 (Interfax) - Russia will not artificially push up the deadline for completing a military special operation in Ukraine by Victory Day on May 9, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"Our military will not artificially push its actions to some date, including Victory Day," Lavrov said in an interview with the Italian television company Mediaset.
"We will solemnly celebrate May 9, as we always do," the minister said. "To remember those who fell for the liberation of Russia and other republics of the former Soviet Union, for the liberation of Europe from the Nazi plague," Lavrov said.
"The pace of the operation in Ukraine depends primarily on the need to minimize any risks to civilians and Russian servicemen," he said.
"In the Soviet Union there was a tradition of making something big, resounding by a certain holiday," he noted. "We concentrate our actions in Ukraine exclusively on the tasks I mentioned. They were announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin, namely, to protect and ensure security of the civilian population and the absence of any threats in Ukraine for them and for the Russian Federation associated with offensive weapons and nazification, which the West is actively trying to downplay," Lavrov said.