Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov addressed the United Nations General Assembly in a wide-ranging speech on Saturday, wherein he warned of a "decisive response" to any "aggression" directed towards Moscow.

But he spent much of the speech debunking the notion that Russia is seeking to attack European Union or NATO states, days after Denmark claimed to be under assault by Russian-linked drone sabotage operations which have at times shut down major airport hubs.

"Threats of force against Russia, accused of practically planning an attack on the North Atlantic Alliance [Nato] and the European Union, are becoming increasingly common," he said. "President Putin has repeatedly debunked such provocations."

"Russia has never had and does not have such intentions, but any aggression against my country will be met with a decisive response," Lavrov emphasized.

Via Sputnik 

But, he asserted, threats against Russia by the Western allies are becoming "increasingly common". Much of his verbal attack was focused on the more hawkish European countries.

This was in contrast with this more positive tone regarding the Trump administration: "In the approaches of the current US administration, we see a desire not only to contribute to ways to realistically resolve the Ukrainian crisis, but also a desire to develop pragmatic cooperation without adopting an ideological stance," he said.

To be expected, he saved his harshest attack for the Ukrainian government itself, at one point highlighting its persecution of Russian language and culture in the public sphere. Lavrov noted that even Arabic is not banned by Israel.

"Yet Russian is banned in Ukraine. I would remind you that Article 1 of the UN Charter calls for ‘respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion,’" he highlighted.

"The Kiev regime, which seized power in the unconstitutional coup organized by the West in 2014, has set a course to eliminate the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to legislate the eradication of the Russian language across all spheres - education, culture, and the media. Ukraine is the only country in the world to legally ban the native language of nearly half of its population," the top Russian diplomat said.

He declared that that Europe is "obsessed with the utopian goal of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia" and so remains silent on these severe human rights abuses.

🤡🥴Russia does not plan attacks on NATO countries, but any aggression will be met with a decisive response - Lavrov pic.twitter.com/Wuf94ccU7f

— 🪖MilitaryNewsUA🇺🇦 (@front_ukrainian) September 27, 2025

"For this goal, the Ukrainian regime is permitted everything - including terrorist attacks against politicians and journalists, torture and extrajudicial executions, indiscriminate bombardment of civilian infrastructure, and reckless sabotage targeting nuclear power plants," he underscored.

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