Lavrov says West declared Russia 'hybrid, total war'

Top Russian diplomat says West tries to 'destroy, break, exterminate, strangle Russian economy and Russia as whole'

MOSCOW:

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that "a total, hybrid war" is being waged by the West against Russia.

Speaking at a meeting of the Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund in Moscow, Lavrov said: "Today we have been declared a real hybrid war, a total war.

"This term [total war] which was used by Hitler's Germany, is now voiced by many European politicians when they talk about what they want to do with the Russian Federation.

"The goals are not hidden, they declared publicly - to destroy, break, exterminate, strangle the Russian economy and Russia as a whole," he noted.

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Lavrov also said that by bullying Russia, the Western politicians forget and betray the values that they were proclaiming for a long time, including the freedom of speech, market economy, inviolability of private property, and presumption of innocence.

"As soon as the West had to do something against Russia, they easily betrayed those values," he said.

The West does not scorn blackmail countries all over the world to get the desired results at the vote in the UN, he added.

Lavrov doubted that Russia will be isolated despite all efforts and pressure, and said the country will not isolate itself. "The majority of the countries in the world are interested in an equal interstate cooperation based on the key principles of the UN Charter."

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About Russia's motives in Ukraine, Lavrov once again said the main goal is to protect the population of the rebel republics against "a military threat from Kyiv."

The minister stressed that if Kyiv had implemented the Minsk Agreement, Russia would not have started its "special military operation."

When a possibility of a military confrontation on the Russian border became clear, Russia did not have any other choice, he argued.

"All those years that the Ukrainian authorities were evading from implementing the Minsk Agreement, the nationalists were destroying objects of the civilian infrastructure -- hospitals, schools, all this is known, these facts were demonstrated by our media but was hushed in the West, including the killing of civilians," he said.

Lavrov reiterated Russia's concern over US-sponsored military biological laboratories in Ukraine, and promised that the issues will be constantly on the agenda of the UN Security Council.

He urged the members of the Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund to consider the geopolitical situation, and make an accent on the development of cooperation with countries that did not join "the anti-Russian hysteria".

The Russia-Ukraine war, which began on Feb 24, has met international outrage with the EU, US and UK, among others, implementing tough financial sanctions on Moscow.

At least 1,035 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 1,650 injured, according to UN estimates, while cautioning that the true figure is likely far higher.

More than 3.7 million Ukrainians have also fled to neighbouring countries, with millions more displaced inside the country, according to the UN refugee agency.