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What Lavrov's wider war aims signalled in July 2022
Summary
A look back at the Russian foreign minister's expanded territorial claims and the Kyiv dismissals and occupation appointments that preceded them.
What did it mean when Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said on 20 July 2022 that his country's military goals were no longer limited to the Donbas? He said they now also covered the Kherson region, the Zaporizhzhia region and a number of other territories.
The statement widened the stated aims of the invasion beyond the eastern region. It named two oblasts in the south, one of which was already the subject of an occupation administration project.
The Zaporizhzhia administrative track
On 18 July 2022, two days earlier, Russia announced Anton Koltsov, a former Prime Minister of Vologda Oblast, as the new Prime Minister in the Zaporizhzhia Military-Civilian Administration. The announcement said his appointment probably took place some days before. The naming of an official from inside Russia to head an administration in occupied territory sat alongside Lavrov's description of Zaporizhzhia as a war aim.
Pressure inside Kyiv
The same day, 18 July 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and Ivan Bakanov, the top security official of the Security Service of Ukraine. More than 60 officials from the two agencies were alleged to be working with Russia. Additionally, 651 cases of alleged treason and collaboration were opened against prosecutorial and law enforcement officials.
Taken together, the three developments, all within a three-day span, showed Moscow stating broader territorial goals and setting up administrative structures in the south, while Kyiv dealt with allegations of collaboration inside its own security and prosecutorial bodies.
