Sergey Lavrov We did everything in our power to avoid a direct conflict (Eng subs)

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey #Lavrov's remarks at the 30th Assembly of the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy.

READ (https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1813377/) | WATCH (English-dubbed video attached)

Sergey Lavrov: We did everything in our power to avoid a direct conflict. But they issued a challenge and we have accepted it. We are used to sanctions. We have been living under one or another form of sanctions for a long time now.

The surprising thing is a surge of rabid Russophobia in almost all “civilised” countries. They have thrown to the wind their political correctness, propriety, rules, & legal norms.

The Americans started preparing the current crisis long ago, right after the end of the Cold War, having decided that the way to global hegemony was then open. NATO's eastward expansion has been one of the key components of such a course. We tried hard to convince them not to do this. We showed where and why our red lines are drawn. We were flexible, ready to make concessions & look for compromises. All this proved futile.