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Goal of inflicting strategic defeat on Russia ‘blurs eyes’ of Western politicians — Lavrov

The Russian top diplomat recalled that Russia’s proposals on mutual security guarantees for Europe without changing Ukraine’s non-aligned status "were arrogantly turned down" back in 2021

UNITED NATIONS, September 23. /TASS/. The task of inflicting a "strategic defeat" on Moscow has completely "blurred the eyes" of Western politicians, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, citing as an example the recent exercises held by the United States and its NATO allies to practice the use of nuclear weapons against Russia.

"A string of recent joint exercises conducted by the United States and their European NATO allies, including those practicing the scenarios of nuclear weapons use on Russian territory, has become unprecedented since the end of the Cold War," the minister said at the General Debate of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

"The objective of inflicting a ‘strategic defeat’ on Russia has been proclaimed, and this obsession has eventually blurred the eyes of irresponsible politicians, who feel their own impunity, having simultaneously lost the elementary sense of self-preservation," Lavrov added.

The Russian top diplomat recalled that Russia’s proposals on mutual security guarantees for Europe without changing Ukraine’s non-aligned status "were arrogantly turned down" back in 2021.

"The West continued to routinely militarize the Russophobic Kiev regime, which was brought to power as a result of a bloody coup and was used for preparations to unleash a hybrid war against our country," the minister said.

Lavrov emphasized that Western leaders were never embarrassed by the fact that NATO expansion towards the Russian border grossly violates their OSCE commitments not to bolster own security at the expense of others, nor let any state or group of states or organizations to dominate in Europe.

"The Soviet and later Russian leaderships were given meaningful political assurances that the NATO military bloc would not expand eastwards. The corresponding records of the talks are kept both in our and Western archives. They are open to the public. However, those assurances of Western leaders turned out to be a deception, as they were not going to implement them," the Russian foreign minister added.

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