Lavrov: Russia won’t attack Europe, but any war would be short

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow has no plans to attack Europe, but warned that if Europe attacked Russia, the war would be short, repeating a line previously used by Vladimir Putin.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia has no plans to attack Europe but warned that any war started by Europe would be short. Speaking at his closing news conference at the UN General Assembly in New York on September 26, Lavrov said that if European countries attacked Russia, “as the president said, we will not hold back,” recalling Vladimir Putin’s words that it would be “a completely different war, and it will be short.”

Lavrov accused European governments of preparing for a conflict, saying they “confirm every day” that Europeans must be ready for war by 2030 at the latest. He added that he was tired of the topic: “Frankly, it is already boring to talk about this. We have stated our position many times.”

It was not the first such warning. On September 16, Lavrov said a war would be “very short” if Europe decided to attack Russia, in response to statements by European countries about their readiness to resist a possible Russian invasion.