UNITED NATIONS, April 26. /TASS/. At the behest of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Europe is returning to values that should have become a thing of the past long ago, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in New York.

The top Russian diplomat said on Tuesday at a news conference to sum up the results of his visit to the United States within the framework of Russia’s presidency in the UN Security Council that Zelensky treated the existence of the Azov nationalist battalion (outlawed in Russia) and other neo-Nazi paramilitary groups on his country’s territory as a normal thing.

"The values that Zelensky is now defending on behalf of the Western world in the conflict with Russia include things that I thought to be a thing of the past. However, in a blink of an eye, Europe returned to traditions of earlier times," he added.