Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov used his address to the United Nations General Assembly (UGNA) on Saturday to deliver one of Moscow’s starkest warnings yet to the West, accusing NATO and the European Union of waging a “real war” against Russia.

Lavrov opened with sweeping historical references to World War II, positioning Russia as the heir to the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazism and defending global sovereignty. He accused the U.S. of dismantling those postwar principles through interventions in Yugoslavia, Iraq and Libya, and warned that the same was happening today in the Middle East. 

While condemning Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack, Lavrov said Israel’s campaign in Gaza amounted to “collective punishment” of civilians, linking the conflict to what he portrayed as decades of unchecked Western use of force.

Lavrov accused NATO of ignoring decades of security commitments. He insisted Russia has “never had and does not have” plans to attack NATO countries, calling Western warnings of a Russian offensive “provocations.” 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a warning of his own before the General Assembly: failure to stop Russia now will lead to “the most destructive arms race ever.” (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Lavrov also took aim at U.S. sanctions on Iran, blasting Western efforts to restore or tighten restrictions as “illegal” and evidence of what he described as Washington’s strategy of “blackmail and pressure.” 

He said the West had sabotaged diplomatic options to revive the 2015 nuclear deal and rejected what he called manipulations at the U.N. Security Council to isolate Tehran.

Beyond Europe, Lavrov portrayed Russia as aligned with a rising “global majority” against Western dominance, pointing to BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and African and Latin American calls for greater representation at the U.N. Security Council. 

He accused Washington of using sanctions and military blocs to preserve hegemony, while claiming Russia was defending sovereignty for nations across the Global South.