Recent spate of airspace incursions linked to Russia has unnerved countries in Eastern Europe, prompting war fears
DNA
NEW YORK: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the West on Saturday that any aggression against Moscow would face a “decisive response,” warning against attempts to down aircraft in Russian airspace and accusing 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 Moscow sent three fighter jets into its airspace and NATO warplanes shot down Russian drones over Poland.
“Any aggression against my country will be met with a decisive response. There should be no doubt about this among those in NATO and the EU who … are telling their voters that war with Russia is inevitable,” he told the United Nations General Assembly.
The spate of airspace incursions linked to Russia has 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 Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump said this week that 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 that followed his General Assembly 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 in February 2022, an indirect response to Trump’s assertion 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 III as a “likely scenario.”
Despite taking aim at NATO and the European Union, Lavrov made clear Moscow remained hopeful of “frank dialogue” with the United States under Trump despite the US president’s recent shifting stance.
The US and Russia, he said, will hold a third round of talks in the coming months aimed at improving each other’s embassy operations, which have been severely curtailed by a decade of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions and other curbs.
Lavrov met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly.
Lavrov said he did not 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.
Key points:
- 80 years ago the most terrible war in human history came to an end. More than 70 million people fell victim to hostilities, hunger and disease. In 1945 the course of world history changed forever. We hold sacred the memory of brotherhood-in-arms with all Allies who then stood on the side of truth in the struggle against the forces of evil.
- UNCharterIsOurRules The principles and the Charter agreed upon by the founding fathers of our Organization still serve as a bright beacon for international cooperation.
- We advocate for the unconditional observance of the principle of equality. In it lies the guarantee that all countries can take their rightful place in world affairs, regardless of their military power, population size, territory or economy.
- Russia strongly condemned the Hamas militants’ attack on peaceful Israelis on October 7, 2023. However, there is no justification for the brutal killing of Palestinian civilians, just as there is no justification for terrorism.
- The Arabic language is not banned in Israel, nor is Hebrew in Arab countries or Iran – but the Russian language is banned in Ukraine. Let me recall that Article 1 of the Charter speaks of the need to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion. Europe remains silent, obsessed with the utopian goal of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia.
- The rights of Russians and Russian-speaking people in the territories still under the control of the Kiev regime must be fully restored. On this basis we are ready to discuss the security guarantees for Ukraine.
- Russia and the US bear a special responsibility for world affairs, for avoiding risks that could plunge humanity into a new war.
- The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (#SCO) and #BRICS play a special role as mechanisms for coordination of countries of the Global South and East.
- NATO is already cramped in Europe, and it is expanding into the Pacific Ocean, the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, undermining the universal ASEAN mechanisms and creating threats not only to China and Russia but also to other countries in the region.
- Speaking of the future, we must not forget the lessons of the past – especially when Nazism is once again raising its head in Europe, militarization is gaining momentum under the same anti-Russian slogans. This causes particular concern given that a number of political figures, now in power in Brussels and certain EU and NATO capitals, seriously discuss World War III as a possible scenario.
- We call on member states and the Secretariat’s leadership to scrupulously follow all the Charter’s principles – without exception and without double standards. Then the legacy of the UN’s founding fathers will not be wasted.
