Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made statements about the Ukraine-Russia war at the meeting he held with regional leaders. Targeting the West once again, Minister Lavrov said, “Western countries are increasingly trying to control us. They are using a variety of tools, from unilateral economic sanctions to global media to completely deceptive propaganda.”

Lavrov noted that “Russian phobia” promoted by some governments has risen to unprecedented levels. “The West has declared a total war on us, against all Russia. Nobody even hides this fact anymore,” said Lavrov, adding that Russia responded to this situation by uniting all patriots and increasing popular support for Russia’s foreign policy. Expressing that Russia and its culture of eliminating everything related to the country have reached an absurd point, Lavrov said, “Classics such as Tchaikovsky, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Pushkin are banned. Today, national culture and art figures who represent our culture are also punished. In general, this situation continues for a long time. I can say it will,” he said.