All news

Lavrov says militaristic frenzy pushes West to threaten sanctions over Ukraine

While saying that the West uses "hysterical statements" to set forth its position, the Russian Foreign Minister stressed that Moscow is ready to take in stride whatever comes next

MOSCOW, January 26. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday said the West is overwhelmed by militaristic frenzy as it threatens to "punish" Russia for a purported planned attack on Ukraine.

"About sanctions, we see that our Western colleagues are quite literally in a state of some militaristic frenzy," he said. "That’s the only thing they are talking about."

While saying that the West uses "hysterical statements" to set forth its position, Lavrov stressed Russia is ready to take in stride whatever comes next.

"We are ready for any developments," he said.

"We haven’t attacked anyone," he went on to say. "We have always been the ones being attacked, and those who did, it didn’t get away with it."

There has been a flurry of statements in the West and Kiev lately that Russia could invade Ukraine. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they were unsubstantiated escalation and that Russia doesn’t threaten anyone. At the same time, he didn’t rule out provocations to corroborate these Western statements and warned that the use of force to resolve the crisis in southeastern Ukraine will have serious consequences.