Photo credit: PBS
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned the West that any aggression against his country would face a “decisive response.”
The Korean Herald reports that Lavrov warned at the ongoing United Nations General Assembly on Saturday against attempts to down aircraft in Russian airspace and accused Germany of militaristic rhetoric.
As Russia’s war rages in Ukraine, tensions have mounted along NATO’s eastern flank in recent weeks as Estonia said Russia sent three fighter jets into its airspace and NATO warplanes shot down Russian drones over Poland.
The spate of airspace incursions linked to Russia unnerved countries in Eastern Europe, where Russia is seen as the biggest threat since the end of the Cold War. Hopes have dimmed of any imminent end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump said he endorsed the idea of shooting down Russian jets that violate NATO airspace, part of a rhetorical shift that saw him mock Russia’s military performance in Ukraine and call it a paper tiger.
Lavrov brushed off Trump’s most recent remarks during a press conference, but issued a warning about any moves against aircraft inside Russia. He told the UN General Assembly that Russia had never targeted EU or NATO countries with drones or missiles, and that it had no plans to do so in future.
He said that only the “politically blind” would expect Ukraine to one day return to the borders it had before the Russian invasion, an indirect response to Trump’s assertion that Ukraine could retake all its occupied land from Russia.
Lavrov also singled out German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. He referred to what he said was “militaristic rhetoric.” He also said Russia was alarmed by remarks made by politicians in the EU and NATO of an impending World War III as a “likely scenario.”
Despite aiming at NATO and the European Union, Lavrov made it clear that Russia remained hopeful of “frank dialogue” with the United States under Trump despite the US president’s recent shifting stance.
According to him, the US and Russia will hold a third round of talks in he coming months aimed at improving each other’s embassy operations, which have been curtailed by a decade of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions and other curbs.
Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met on Wednesday on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly. He said he didn’t see economic relations between Russia and India as under threat, as Trump has placed tariffs on products from India, calling on it and China to stop purchasing Russian oil.
Lavrov raised alarm over a US naval buildup and military action in international waters around Venezuela to combat drug cartels, describing the situation as very serious. Without naming the US, he questioned whether “certain creative actors” could try to use a proposal draft UN Security Council resolution to create a large international force to fight gangs in Haiti to justify an attack within Venezuela.
The draft, put forward by the US and Panama, needs at least nine votes and no vetoes by Russia, China, the US, France or Britain to pass.
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