A peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict is possible only if Kiev abandons its plans to join NATO, closes Western military bases on the country's territory and cancels exercises involving foreign troops, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson, reports TASS.

"No NATO. Absolutely. No military bases, no military exercises on Ukrainian soil with the participation of foreign troops," said Lavrov, noting that now they have to accept new realities, the main of which is the inclusion of “the Donetsk, Lugansk Republics and the Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions” into Russia.

The foreign minister emphasized that Russia cannot tolerate the fact that the Ukrainian legislation prohibits the Russian language, the Russian media, the Russian culture, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

"This is a violation of the obligations of Ukraine under the UN Charter, and something must be done about it," Lavrov added.

Lavrov noted that ever since this Russophobic “legislative offensive” started in 2017, the West has been completely silent.

According to the Russian Foreign Minister, Russia's position is clear: there should not be any NATO "on its doorstep."

Also, he recalled the restoration of the rights of Russians.

Lavrov emphasized that Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about the objective of the special military operation in Ukraine.

This is fair and fully complies with the UN Charter. First of all, linguistic and religious rights, the rights of national minorities. This fully corresponds to the OSCE principles, said the Russian FM.