Lavrov tells UN Russia has no plans to attack Europe, warns of 'decisive response' to aggression
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told world leaders at the UN General Assembly on Sept. 28 that Moscow has "no intention" of attacking European countries, while warning that "any aggression against my country will be met with a decisive response."
His remarks come amid rising concern in Europe over unauthorized flights into NATO airspace. Alliance jets recently downed drones over Poland, while Estonia reported that Russian fighter jets entered its airspace and remained there for 12 minutes.
Russia has denied the accusations, claiming the drones did not target Poland and blaming Ukrainian signal-jamming for sending them off course. Estonia’s allegations of airspace violations were also rejected by Moscow. European officials, however, view the incidents as deliberate provocations designed to test NATO’s reaction.
"Russia has never had and does not have any such intentions," Lavrov said, referring to claims that Moscow could attack NATO countries. "However, any aggression against my country will be met with a decisive response."
Similar reassurances were heard before. Moscow repeatedly denied planning to invade Ukraine, but on Feb. 24, 2022, Russian forces launched air strikes and a ground assault from multiple directions — from Belarus toward Kyiv, from Crimea in the south, and from occupied Donbas toward Kharkiv.
U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters earlier this week that he believed Ukraine could reclaim all territory lost to Russia — a notable departure from earlier remarks suggesting Kyiv might have to cede land. Trump made the comments after meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the UN gathering. Zelensky later described their talks as “a good meeting.”
Lavrov repeated Moscow’s claim that it remains open to talks. “Russia has been and remains open to negotiations to eliminate the root causes of the conflict from the very beginning. We have repeatedly proposed to agree on legally binding security guarantees,” he said, blaming Kyiv and Western allies for refusing dialogue.
He also accused NATO of attempting to “militarily encircle all of Eurasia” and said both the alliance and the EU “should have no doubts” about Russia’s willingness to respond militarily if threatened.
