Sergei Lavrov insisted that Russia has no intention of attacking any EU or Nato member states
Russia’s foreign minister has warned that “any aggression” against his country will be met with a “decisive response”.
Addressing the UN General Assembly, Sergei Lavrov insisted Russia has no intention of attacking any EU or Nato member states, instead telling world leaders that “threats of force” against Moscow were becoming “increasingly common.”
Tensions have been rising in Europe over recent weeks, after Russia was accused of violating the airspace of three Nato members.
Nato aircraft were scrambled after Russian jets entered Estonian territory last week, not long after Poland and Romania reported Russian drones in their skies.
Moscow has denied responsibility for all three incidents.
Addressing the situation in Europe, Lavrov said: “Threats of force against Russia, accused of practically planning an attack on the North Atlantic Alliance (Nato) and the European Union, are becoming increasingly common. President Putin has repeatedly debunked such provocations.
“Russia has never had and does not have such intentions, but any aggression against my country will be met with a decisive response.”
Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump said he endorsed the idea of shooting down Russian jets that violate Nato airspace.
Lavrov brushed off Trump’s remarks during a press conference that followed his speech, but issued a warning about any moves against aircraft inside Russia.
“If there are attempts to down any flying object, any object… in our airspace, then I think people will very much regret undertaking such an egregious violation of our territorial integrity and sovereignty,” he said.
He said that only the “politically blind” would expect Ukraine to one day return to the borders it had before Russia invaded – an indirect response to Trump’s assertion earlier this week that Kyiv could retake all its occupied land from Russia.
Lavrov also singled out German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, referring to what he said was “militaristic rhetoric” and said Moscow was alarmed by remarks by politicians in EU and NATO capitals of a looming World War Three as a “likely scenario.”
Lavrov spoke three years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022.
In a major shift of position on Tuesday, Trump that he believed Ukraine could win back all the territory it has lost to since
The President had previously suggested Kyiv would need to make some concessions and could never reclaim all the areas Russia has occupied since first seizing the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
Last month, Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a summit in Alaska in early August but left without a deal to end the war.
Speaking in New York, Lavrov noted the summit and said Russia had “some hopes” of continuing dialogue with the US.
“In the approaches of the current US administration, we see a desire not only to contribute to ways to realistically resolve the Ukrainian crisis, but also a desire to develop pragmatic cooperation without adopting an ideological stance.
“Russia and the US bear a special responsibility for the state of affairs in the world, and for avoiding risks that could plunge humanity into a new war.”
Lavrov met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders at the General Assembly.
