Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov explained why Russia "had to" start military intervention in Ukraine during his interaction with the Soviet Alumni Association, Bangladesh (SAAB) in Dhaka on Friday.

Lavrov, who was in Dhaka on a 20-hour visit on September 7 before attending the G20 summit in New Delhi, spoke to the members of SAAB, an association of Russian those who studied in Russia, at the Russian embassy before wrapping up his visit to Bangladesh.

The Russian minister explained that after the breakup of the Soviet Union, the US in 1990 committed to not expand NATO eastwards, said Mizanur Rahman, director of the Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs, quoting Lavrov.

Rahman did his LLM and PhD in International Law from the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia.

However, in violation of that commitment, NATO expanded to more East European countries, Rahman told the correspondent yesterday, quoting Lavrov.

"Since 2014, there has been ethnic cleansing of the Russians living in Ukraine. They wanted to be independent, but we said you could have autonomy. Thus, the repression on them continued. On the other hand, Zelensky was working to become a NATO member. So, we had no alternatives to intervening," Rahman said quoting Lavrov.

Russia is open to discussion to end the war, but the Western countries do not want that, Lavrov also said.

"They want to defeat Russia," the Soviet diplomat said. The 73-year-old also accused the US of creating global problems by imposing sanctions.

For example, he told the SAAB members that Russia is helping build the Rooppur nuclear power plant but Bangladesh had to ban 69 Russian ships because of US sanctions, according to Rahman.

Lavrov highlighted the history of Russia and Ukraine's relationship and the origin of the war, said Muztafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue. Rahman did his Masters from Kharkov State University and PhD from Moscow State University.

"He said it was because of NATO and Ukrainian authority's policies that Russia had to start a campaign in Ukraine," CPD's Rahman said.

Lavrov also recalled the Soviet Union's role in Bangladesh's Liberation War and that Russia is eager to expand relations with Bangladesh, make investments and promote people-to-people contact.

Russia currently provides scholarships to 40 Bangladeshis a year and wants to increase it to 80.

Debapriya Bhattacharya, a distinguished fellow at the CPD, who earned his MSc and PhD in economics at Moscow's Plekhanov Institute of the National Economy, and Taqsem A Khan, managing director of WASA, who did his Masters in mechanical engineering at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, were present among others.

During the trip, which was the first by a Russian foreign minister, Lavrov met with Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and then held a joint press conference.

On Friday, Lavrov called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Both Hasina and Momen urged Lavrov to end the war in Russia and solve the crisis through peaceful negotiations, apart from other bilateral issues.