Any aggression against Russia will be met with ‘decisive response’: Sergei Lavrov

UNITED NATIONS: Any aggression against Russia "will be met with a decisive response," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in his address to the general debate of the UN General Assembly.  He said Western countries have increasingly threatened the use of force against Russia while accusing Moscow of nearly planning to attack NATO and European Union countries, Xinhua news agency reported. Noting that Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly debunked such provocations, Lavrov stressed that Russia has never had nor does it have such intentions. On the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Lavrov said, as the Russian president has repeatedly stressed, Russia has been and remains open to negotiations to eliminate the root causes of the conflict from the very beginning. Russia's security and vital interests must be reliably guaranteed, and the rights of Russians and Russian-speaking people in the territories that remain under the control of Ukraine must be restored and respected, he added. "On this basis, we are ready to talk about security guarantees for Ukraine." On Russia-US relations, Lavrov said Russia places certain hopes on the continuation of the dialogue between the two countries, especially following the summit in the US state of Alaska in August.  (IANS)

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