By Burc Eruygur
ISTANBUL (AA) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday clarified that Moscow has no plans to attack NATO or the EU, warning that any "aggression" against his country would be "decisively rebuffed."
"We have repeatedly proposed to NATO capitals that they respect their commitments and agree on legally binding security guarantees. Our proposals have been ignored and continue to be ignored.
"Moreover, threats to use force against Russia, which is accused of practically planning to attack NATO and EU countries, are becoming increasingly common. President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly debunked such provocations. Russia has never had, and does not have, any such intentions," Lavrov said in an address to the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Lavrov also spoke about the situation surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, expressing that the world is essentially "dealing with an attempt at a kind of coup d'etat aimed at burying the UN decisions on the creation of a Palestinian state."
"Recently, a number of Western governments announced their recognition of the State of Palestine. They had already announced their intention to do so several months ago. The question arises: why did they wait so long? Apparently, they hoped that soon there would be nothing left to recognize," he argued.
The Russian foreign minister also touched on the situation concerning Iran's nuclear program, saying that the West's rejection of China and Russia's anti-Iran sanctions initiative at the UN Security Council exposed its "policy of sabotaging the search for constructive solutions in the UN Security Council and its desire to extract unilateral concessions from Tehran through blackmail and pressure."
"We consider this policy unacceptable, and all Western manipulations to restore UN anti-Iran sanctions, as well as the sanctions themselves, are illegal," Lavrov added.