World on brink as Lavrov declares ‘total hybrid war’ has begun hours after nuclear threat

Speaking today (Saturday) to mark the 80th day of Vladimir Putin’s horrific and bloody invasion of Ukraine, Sergei Lavrov said that “the consequences will be felt by everyone”. It comes after Sweden and Finland signed mutual security pacts with the UK, as the latter Scandinavian country declared its intention to join NATO.

Mr Lavrov pointed to the sweeping sanctions Western nations had placed on Russia in an attempt to portray Russia as the target of aggression, as opposed to the perpetrator of it.

This is in keeping with the Kremlin propaganda the country has pumped out since the war in Ukraine began.

He told a Russian audience: “The collective West has declared total hybrid war on us and it is hard to predict how long all this will last but it is clear the consequences will be felt by everyone, without exception.

“We did everything to avoid a direct clash – but now that the challenge has been thrown down, we of course accept it.

“We are no strangers to sanctions: they were almost always there in one form or another.”

Efforts by the West to isolate Russia were doomed to fail, Mr Lavrov claimed, while pointing to the importance of Russia’s relations with China, India, Algeria and Gulf countries.

More to follow…