💬 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov: For decades, we have sought to promote a friendly and unifying agenda with regard to our Western neighbours. This includes creating an architecture of peace, equal and indivisible security, and mutually beneficial, practical cooperation across the vast space from the Atlantic to the Pacific. All of that is now history. The West spurned it all, failing to learn how to interact on an equal footing. The West made its choice long ago in favour of containing Russia, including through the forceful and brazen expansion of NATO towards Russia’s borders. We often hear the EU leaders talk about the need to prepare for war with our country. This is the most popular topic in the speeches of today’s European elites. We have repeatedly made it clear that we have no intention of attacking Europe [...] However, if Europe, which never stops speaking about preparing for war against Russia, attacks the Russian Federation, it will be a completely different war. A very short one. I hope European capitals and the entities that are now trying to portray themselves as united Europe heard this warning. Excerpt from FM Lavrov’s remarks at the session “A New Global Architecture: An Open Dialogue with Sergey Lavrov” during the Federal Educational Marathon “Znanie.Pervye” in Ekaterinburg (16 September 2026)