"By continuing to provide more sophisticated arms to Kiev, the US and its NATO satellites create the risk of a direct armed confrontation with Russia, and this may lead to catastrophic consequences."The plans to supply F-16s to Kiev is yet another example of an escalatory move by the West and in itself is "an extremely dangerous development," he stated. In the midst of fighting, the Russian military isn't going to investigate whether any specific jet is equipped to deliver nuclear weapons or not, he added.
"We have informed the nuclear powers - the US, UK and France - that Russia can't ignore the ability of these aircraft to carry nuclear weapons. No assurances [by the West] will help here. The very fact of the appearance of such systems within the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be considered by us as a threat from the West in the nuclear domain."
"The 'collective West' led by the US is not willing to accept the formation of a multipolar world and intends to defend its hegemony by all available means, including military ones. What the West calls the 'rules-based order' is nothing but a 'license they granted themselves to violate international law', and has nothing to do with the UN, which NATO frequently invokes."The Russian Foreign Ministry said:
"NATO's achievements are well known: the growing instability, destruction of countries, rampant terrorism, war crimes that are committed with impunity, the blood of civilians, including children, and the endless flow of refugees."The bloc is now determined to "NATO-ize" Ukraine, treating the country as an expendable resource in a hybrid war against Russia, supplying Kiev with long-range weapons in order to prolong the conflict for as long as possible, the ministry added. Meanwhile, the US military-industrial complex is "happily rubbing its hands" at the prospect of selling its European allies replacements for weapons destroyed in Ukraine, at exorbitant prices.
"After the launch of the military operation [in Ukraine], the US and other NATO and EU states drastically intensified the hybrid war against Russia, which they had started back in 2014," Lavrov said in an interview with Lenta.ru on Wednesday.
"Aggressive steps by unfriendly countries create an existential threat for Russia," he continued, referring to unprecedented economic sanctions imposed on Moscow by the West, and extensive military support provided to Kiev by the US and its allies.
The Russian state will "defend our right to free and sovereign development with all available means," the foreign minister added.
NATO suffering delusions of grandeur - LavrovSee also:The top Russian diplomat has accused the military bloc of attempting to undermine Moscow's relations with Beijing.© Press Service of the Russian Foreign MinistryRussian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
The US and its allies are targeting Russia and China because of their strong relationship, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has claimed, citing the final communique from this week's NATO summit in Lithuania.
The NATO document stated that "the deepening strategic partnership between [China] and Russia and their mutually reinforcing attempts to undercut the rules-based international order run counter to our values and interests."
Commenting on Thursday during a trip to Indonesia, Lavrov said that "apparently, we are not even allowed now to have a relationship [with China], or so they wish." The diplomat noted that the US had previously limited itself to referring to Russia and China as its "rivals."
The NATO statement further justifies Russia's efforts to oppose "modern forms of colonialism" and to advocate international relations based on respect, Lavrov insisted."People in NATO are obviously not prepared for [the same approach]. Delusion of grandeur is expressed in all actions of the NATO leadership, as well as member states, frankly speaking. Everybody sees that," the Russian minister claimed.Lavrov accused the West of attempting to preserve its hegemony and dress it up as a "rules-based order," but predicted that multipolarity would ultimately prevail.
He also alleged that NATO's appetite for spreading its influence globally was causing destabilization outside of the North Atlantic region."They already have plans to build up NATO military infrastructure in the [Asia-Pacific] region, including in the nations that were invited to the summit in Vilnius... I mean Australia, New Zealand, Japan, [South] Korea," said the minister.Canberra violated its own commitment to keeping the Pacific free from nuclear weapons when it agreed to host "elements of infrastructure" related to nuclear arms under the AUKUS arrangement, Lavrov argued.Tokyo and Seoul "have been signaling that they would not oppose stationing American nuclear weapons or obtaining some of their own," he added.The Russian foreign minister was speaking in Indonesia after a summit with ASEAN, a regional integration bloc. He claimed the US was pushing for the Southeast Asian organization to be replaced by structures under Washington's control, so that it could undermine China.
Cuba Rejects Entry of US Nuclear Submarine in Guantanamo
On Tuesday, the Cuban Foreign Affairs Ministry (MINREX) rejected the entry of a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine into the Guantanamo naval base from July 5 to 8.
For 121 years, the United States has occupied a territory of 117 square kilometers against the will of the Cuban people and as a colonial remnant of the illegitimate military occupation that began in 1898, the MINREX recalled, mentioning that the Guantanamo base lacks strategic importance for the United States but "its permanence only responds to the political objective of trying to violate the sovereign rights of Cuba."
The Cuban Foreign Affairs Ministry reiterates the complaint that the Guantanamo base has become "a center for the detention, torture and systematic violation of the human rights of dozens of citizens from various countries."
"The presence of a nuclear submarine there at this moment makes it imperative to wonder what is the military reason behind this action in this peaceful region of the world; what target is it aiming at and what is the strategic purpose it pursues."
Cuban diplomats thus recalled that 33 nations adhered to the Declaration of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, which was signed in Havana in January 2014.
"It is also important to take into account the fact that, as a threat to the sovereignty and the interests of Latin American and Caribbean peoples, the United States has established more than 70 military bases in the region with different times of permanence, plus other operational forms of military presence. Recently, its high military commands have publicly announced their intention to use their war capabilities to realize the U.S. ambitions over the natural resources of Latin America and the Caribbean."
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