Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview that aired Sunday that Ukraine “has the right to exist” but added a caveat to that right related to territory.

“Mr. Foreign Minister, let me ask you about something that President Putin said in June. He said, quote, ‘I consider the Russian and Ukrainian people to be one nation. In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours,’” NBC News’s Kristen Welker said on “Meet the Press.” “Does President Putin believe that Ukraine has a right to exist?”

“No, this is not — this is not true. Ukraine has the right to exist, provided it must let people go,” Lavrov responded.

“The people whom they call terrorists, who they call species and who — during a referenda — several referenda in Novorossiya, in Donbas, in Crimea, decided that they belong to the

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