MOSCOW, May 27. /TASS/. The United States and its satellites are gradually stepping up efforts to contain Russia, the country’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday at a meeting of the Council of the heads of Russia’s constituent territories at the Foreign Ministry.
"You see how the United States and its satellites are doubling, tripling, quadrupling their efforts to contain our country, using the widest toolkit: from unilateral economic sanctions to outright false propaganda in the global media space," the minister said, "And in many Western countries Russophobia has become unprecedented, which, to our great regret, is encouraged by government circles in many countries."
Lavrov stressed that against the backdrop of pressure from the collective West, Russia is experiencing nationwide consolidation. "Under the circumstances, it is fundamentally important that the foreign policy approved by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin relies on a broad national consensus, and is supported by the key political forces of our country and the leading public and business associations," the top diplomat stressed, "In fact, the country is experiencing a consolidation of healthy, patriotic forces, and this is certainly a very important feature of the current stage."
On February 24, Putin announced a special military operation in Ukraine iin response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics. After that, the US, the EU, the UK, and a number of other states imposed sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities.