Published: January 20, 2026 10:14 am
Author: RT
European leaders are not even trying to hide the fact that they want a direct conflict with Moscow, the foreign minister has said
Recent statements by top European officials, including NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, suggest that the West is preparing for a direct military conflict with Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a press conference on the results of Russian diplomatic activities in 2025, Lavrov pointed to remarks by the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, and other politicians such as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the leaders of Germany, France, and the UK. “They are seriously preparing for war against the Russian Federation, and, in fact, are not even hiding it.”
The foreign minister added that while Russia is determined to “eliminate the root causes” of the Ukraine conflict, it is the West that has been “deliberately creating” these issues for many years in an effort to turn Ukraine into a “threat to Russia’s security.”
