Lavrov warns UN over EU warmongering: As it happened
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has addressed the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York and set out Moscow’s position on the Ukraine conflict and global security while warning of the EU’s military buildup.
The top Russian diplomat arrived in New York earlier this week for a diplomatic marathon on the sidelines of the gathering, holding talks with senior officials from around the globe, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi, and many others.
His General Assembly address follows a heated UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine earlier in the week, during which he reiterated Moscow’s readiness for negotiations but rejected calls to halt military operations during talks, arguing that a pause would allow Kiev to regroup and rearm.
The key statements he made in the UNGA address and in the follow-up Q&A include:
- The EU is militarizing for war with Russia despite Moscow having no plans to attack Europe. The sheer scale of the EU buildup could eventually spark a conflict.
- Berlin’s goal of achieving military primacy in Europe can be construed as an attempt to create a Fourth Reich.
- Many EU ruling elites are “infected with the virus of racial superiority” and espouse extremist Russophobic ideas.
- Ukraine’s Western backers continue pumping it full of arms and helping it attack non-combatants and civilian infrastructure.
- Europe actively cultivates and supports Ukraine’s neo-Nazi lionization of WWII Nazi collaborators.
- Russia remains open to dialogue with Washington and is ready to return to the understandings reached at the August 2025 Trump-Putin summit in Anchorage.
Lavrov stressed that the Ukraine conflict has deeper roots in NATO expansion, the failure of the Minsk agreements, and the rejection of Russia’s security proposals to the US and NATO in 2021.
The week’s diplomacy extended well beyond Ukraine. Talks with Arab officials covered tensions in the Middle East, including the US war against Iran and Israel’s continued hostilities in Gaza. Other meetings focused on bilateral ties and coordination at the UN.
The General Debate is being held at UN Headquarters from September 22 to 28 as part of High-Level Week, with the theme: ‘Restoring trust, managing transformation: A United Nations that delivers for all’.
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26 September 2026
18:40 GMTRussia would not like to see the agreements currently being reached concerning Palestine and the Strait of Hormuz suffer the same fate as those “ordained by the West through decisions made… regarding the Ukraine crisis,” Lavrov said.
Russian officials have long argued that the UK, France, and Germany undermined previous peace efforts, including in the 2014-2015 Minsk Agreements and the draft deal reached in Istanbul in 2022.
- 18:32 GMT
Lavrov said German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul did not bring anything to their meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly that Berlin had not already said publicly.
“He may as well have just called,” Lavrov said.
- 18:20 GMT
Europe is preparing for war with Russia and constantly reiterates that it must be ready for the conflict by 2030, Lavrov said.
The European military buildup will eventually have to be put to use, he said.
“In that case, they will attack us, because we are not planning to,” the top diplomat said, recalling Russian President Vladimir Putin’s warning that such a war would be a “short one.”
- 18:17 GMT
Russia believes that Russia and the US reached an agreement at Putin-Trump in Alaska in August 2025, which focused on the Ukraine conflict, Lavrov has said, stressing that Moscow is ready to return to it.
- 18:07 GMT
Some analysts believe that Berlin is attempting to create the Fourth Reich, Lavrov said, recalling that Chancellor Friedrich Merz has repeatedly stated his goal is to make Germany “the leading military power in Europe again.”
“Does he understand the significance of the word ‘again’ in that statement?” the Russian top diplomat asked.
- 17:58 GMT
Moscow and the Trump administration maintain “regular dialogue in different formats,” Lavrov has said, stressing that this fact alone speaks of “normalcy” in relations.
While admitting the US often engages in hardball diplomacy, he stressed that it would be a mistake not to talk over issues on which the two powers are at odds.
Lavrov added that he believes the Trump administration wants to remove the Ukraine conflict from among the issues affecting Russia-US relations.
- 17:48 GMT
EU countries have helped return the remains of Nazi collaborators to Ukraine and are openly patronizing Vladimir Zelensky in his attempts to use them for building a “pantheon of heroes,” Lavrov has charged.
The Zelensky government has moved to entomb the remains of WWII Nazi Collaborators in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, Ukraine’s oldest monastery. It is run by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has been subject to a state-backed crackdown since 2014.
- 17:41 GMT
Russia supplied Türkiye with S-400 air defense systems under an end-user agreement requiring Moscow’s consent for any transfer abroad, Lavrov told a Turkish reporter, adding that Ankara has made no formal request to sell them.
- 17:28 GMT
Berlin has failed to cite any examples of Western-linked commercial ships being attacked by Russia, Lavrov said, stressing that all strikes on civilian shipping in the conflict zone were carried out by Ukraine.
- 17:23 GMT
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul requested a meeting at “the last hour,” Lavrov said, adding that while Russia remained open to diplomacy, Berlin’s overture contained nothing new and essentially contained demands for more concessions.
