Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Photo: Sofia Sandurskaya/TASS
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Western powers, including the United States and the United Kingdom, are preparing continental European countries for a “suicidal adventure” – a direct military clash with Russia if the Ukrainian government led by Volodymyr Zelenskyy fails to defeat the Russian army. Lavrov made this statement during a speech at the International Symposium “Creating the Future”, according to Russian media.
“The Anglo-Saxons hope to achieve the defeat of our country at the hands of the Kyiv regime, just as Nazi Germany once united most of Europe under the Nazi banner. And, as a backup plan, if the Zelenskyy regime fails to realise their goals, continental Europe is being prepared for a direct armed confrontation with Russia,” Lavrov said.
According to him, such a strategy is “suicidal” for Europe, which is becoming a bargaining chip in the geopolitical games of Western powers. Lavrov regretted that “European elites are now blindly focusing on the ‘overseas hegemon’, neglecting the possibility of development in a multipolar world”. According to the Russian minister, this demonstrates that European countries have lost their political independence and strategic vision.
Lavrov’s statements come amid heightened tensions between Russia and Europe, with diplomatic and economic relations between Moscow and the West virtually nullified since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The European Union has responded to the Kremlin’s actions with powerful sanctions, freezing the assets of Russian companies and large-scale support for Ukraine.
In addition, Russia has recently renamed its department dealing with relations with the EU from the Department for Pan-European Cooperation to the Department for European Problems. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that the name change reflects new “geopolitical realities”, in particular, the degradation of multilateral cooperation structures in Europe, which, in Russia’s view, indicates that European countries are moving away from constructive dialogue.
Analysts see such statements as another step in Russia’s information war aimed at splitting the EU and weakening European support for Ukraine.
