West Declared ‘Hybrid, Total War’ Against Russia – Lavrov

“Today we have been declared a real hybrid war, a total war. The goals are not hidden, they declared publicly ‘to destroy, break, exterminate, strangle the Russian economy and Russia as a whole,’ Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

“This term [total war] which was used by Hitler’s Germany, is now voiced by many European politicians when they talk about what they want to do with the Russian Federation.”

Lavrov also said that by bullying Russia, Western politicians forget and betray the values they were proclaiming for a long time, including freedom of speech, the market economy, the inviolability of private property, and presumption of innocence.

“As soon as the West had to do something against Russia, they easily betrayed those values,” he said.

Regarding Russia’s motives in Ukraine, Lavrov reiterated the main goal is to protect the population of the rebel republics against “a military threat from Kiev.”

The minister stressed that Russia would not have started its “special military operation if Kiev had implemented the Minsk Agreement.”

At least 1,035 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 1,650 injured since Russian aggression in Ukraine began on February 24, according to UN estimates. He organisation also cautioned that the true figure is likely far higher.

More than 3.7 million Ukrainians have also fled to neighbouring countries, with millions more displaced inside the country, according to the UN refugee agency.