No country is currently protected from "hostile raids" by the United States and its allies, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an article for the Razvedchik (Intelligence Officer) magazine on Friday.
"In general, nobody today is safe from hostile `raids’ by the Americans and their NATO allies," he opined, saying that "apart from Russia, numerous countries are currently being threatened and blackmailed."
According to Russia’s top diplomat, "the situation in and around Ukraine is but a manifestation of a large-scale collision involving attempts by a small group of Western countries seeking world domination and a reversal of the intrinsic emergence of a multipolar architecture."
"They have set a strategic task of comprehensively deterring China, as part of the so-called Indo-Pacific strategies, too," Lavrov said. He slammed what he said was the West’s vicious interference in the internal affairs of sovereign nations, including fraternal Belarus, and condemned the years-long economic blockade of Cuba.
"While acting in the worst colonial traditions, the Americans and their backers are trying to divide the world into `democracies’ and `authoritarian regimes’," the Russian foreign minister noted. He also castigated the EU’s diplomacy chief Josep Borrell for his "racist" statement about Europe being a garden and the rest of the world a jungle.
Russia aware West putting pressure on countries who opted not to join sanctions — Kremlin
Russia is aware that the collective West is putting extra pressure on countries that opted not to join sanctions, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.
"It’s not news that the countries of the collective West headed by the US are putting blatant, undue pressure on a slew of nations that choose not to join the illegal restrictions imposed against Russia," he said. "Those countries themselves tell us about it. Unfortunately, they are facing such an onslaught," Peskov added.
The issue "requires special attention" on the part of both Russia and the countries under pressure, Peskov said. "We remain in close contact with our partners in order to minimize risks," he explained.
Commenting on reports that Kazakhstan will restrict parallel imports to Russia, he stressed that "Russia and Kazakhstan are allies, good friends." "We appreciate our bilateral relations and we will continue expanding them. the spokesman noted.
Ukraine’s attempt to take Crimea reason enough for Russia to use any weapons — Medvedev
The deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, has warned that Ukraine's attempt to retake Crimea would be reason enough for Russia to use any weapons, including those provided for by its nuclear doctrine.
"As far as some serious offensives involving an attempt to retake Crimea are concerned, it is absolutely clear that this will serve as a basis for the use of all means of protection, including those provided for by the basic doctrine of nuclear deterrence, when the use of any types of weapons against Russia poses a threat to the existence of the state as such," Medvedev said in an interview with Russian media, including TASS, as well as uses of the VKontakte social media network. He explained that "an attempt to split off part of the state would be tantamount to an encroachment on the existence of the state itself."
"Therefore, draw your own conclusions: there are obvious grounds for using any weapons. Absolutely any," Medvedev warned. "I hope our 'friends' across the ocean realize this."
At the same time, Medvedev believes that Ukraine's statements about the "retaking" of Crimea were mostly propaganda.
"All sorts of statements about retaking Crimea or something else… You see, this is propaganda and it should be treated as such. You always see it in times of war," he explained.
