MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/. Russia needs to firmly respond to the war that was in fact declared by the West, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the Assembly of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy on Saturday.

"It should be understood very well that we do not promote hostility against anyone. We have to give a firm and consistent response to the war declared upon us," the Russian foreign minister said.

According to Lavrov, "hostility originates from the other side of the barricades - the barricades that separate those willing to live on their own mind and for the sake of their peoples from those willing to live at the expense of others.".