The West has declared total war on the entire Russian world, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a meeting of the Council of Heads of Subjects under the Russian Foreign Ministry.

According to Lavrov, no one hides this fact, and the situation itself “is already reaching the point of absurdity”, in particular, to the very culture of the abolition of Russia and everything connected with it. 

“The West has declared a total war on us, on the entire Russian world... The classics are banned: Tchaikovsky, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Pushkin.

Workers of national culture and art, who today represent our culture, are also being persecuted,” the minister said.

  • Lavrov's speech at a meeting of the Council of Heads of Subjects of the Russian Federation under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation

Lavrov noted that this situation revealed the true attitude of the West to the "beautiful slogans" about universal values ​​that were put forward after the end of the Cold War.

“Now we see what the price of these phrases is,” Lavrov said.

The head of the foreign policy department noted that the United States and its allies are stepping up efforts to contain Russia and are using "the widest range of tools for this - from unilateral economic sanctions to thoroughly false propaganda in the global media space." 

“And in many Western countries, everyday Russophobia has assumed an unprecedented character, which, to our great regret, is encouraged in a number of countries by government circles,” Lavrov added.

At the same time, in Russia, according to the minister, there is a "consolidation of healthy patriotic forces." 

“It is of fundamental importance that the foreign policy course approved by President Putin is based on a broad national consensus, it is supported by the key political forces of our country, leading public and business associations.

We also feel the support of all Russian regions on a daily basis,” the Foreign Minister said.

"The impudence of the Anglo-Saxon alliance knows no limits"

Earlier, in an interview with RT Arabic, Lavrov noted that “the impudence of the Anglo-Saxon alliance knows no limits,” which Moscow is convinced of every day. 

In particular, he explained that Western countries, instead of following their obligations under the UN Charter and respecting the sovereign equality of states, send them ultimatums.

“Including blackmailing on the basis of certain subjective situations and directly threatening their interlocutors that they will regret and be punished if they do not join the sanctions against Russia,” the minister said.

According to him, the situation once again confirms that the colonial thinking of the Western countries has not disappeared anywhere and that the US and Europe "still think in colonial categories."

“This is bad, this is sad.

This goes against the historical process, which objectively lies in the fact that a multipolar world is now being formed, ”said the Foreign Minister.

"Splash of frenzied Russophobia"

Russian President Vladimir Putin drew attention to the strengthening of Russophobic sentiments in Western countries on May 16 during a speech at a meeting of leaders of the CSTO member states.

The Russian leader stressed that Western countries turn a blind eye to the rampant neo-Nazism in Ukraine, in fact encouraging it. 

“And all this is accompanied by an unprecedented surge of frenzied Russophobia in the so-called civilized and politically correct countries in Western society,” the president said.

In addition, Putin spoke about the expansion of NATO, noting that this problem is being created “completely artificially”, and this is being done in the foreign policy interests of the United States.

“In general, NATO is used as an instrument of foreign policy, in fact, by one country - this is done quite persistently, skillfully and very aggressively.

This all exacerbates the already difficult international security environment,” the President stressed.

In addition, speaking the day before at the plenary session of the 1st Eurasian Economic Forum, Putin said that the attempts of the Western countries to delete “any objectionable” from the world economy, politics and culture are causing damage primarily to the Western countries themselves. 

Putin also noted that there are more and more countries in the world that want and will pursue an independent policy, and it will not be possible to restrain this process with sanctions or bans.

In addition, he stressed that violations of the norms in the field of international finance and trade, such as the freezing of Russian assets, lead to chaos and economic shocks that affect the whole world.