UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -Russia’s foreign minister accused NATO and the European Union of using Ukraine to wage war against his country in a speech on the sidelines of the United Nations on Thursday that Britain dismissed as “false fantasy world distortions.”
He spoke at a G20 meeting of foreign ministers at the U.N. two days after U.S. President Donald Trump, in a rhetorical shift, mocked Moscow’s military performance in Ukraine and said he thought Kyiv could retake all its land.
“Another clear example is the crisis in Ukraine provoked by the West, through which NATO and the EU have … already declared a real war on my country and are directly involved in it,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
Lavrov has made similar remarks in the past, but their echo within the walls of the United Nations building — delivered in front of fellow G20 foreign ministers — underscored the gravity of the moment.
He made no reference to Trump’s comments earlier this week, instead repeating Russia’s position that it was the West’s actions that provoked the war in Ukraine, which began when Moscow’s forces launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper called out Lavrov as he made to leave when she began her speech and condemned Russia’s “unprovoked war of aggression.”
“No amount of false fantasy world distortions, misinformation and propaganda from the Russian representative about the causes of the war will convince anyone,” she said.
Russian forces occupy around 20% of Ukraine and the fighting rages in the east of the country more than 3-1/2 years since the full-scale invasion.
Europe’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, called on world powers to exert international pressure on Russia.
“There are no signs that Russia’s goal of subjugating Ukraine has changed,” she said.
(Reporting by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Howard Goller)
