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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Israel of trying to “blow up the entire Middle East” in a speech to the UN General Assembly on Saturday.
Lavrov harshly criticised Israel’s recent attacks against targets in Iran and Qatar and spoke out against proposals from hard-right Israeli politicians to annex the West Bank.
Lavrov called the annexation plans an “attempt at a kind of coup d’état” designed to destroy the prospect of establishing an independent Palestinian state, an outcome long supported by UN resolutions. He stressed there is “no justification” for such moves.
The Russian Foreign Minister also mocked Western powers, including France and Britain, for recently recognising a Palestinian state, asking, “What took them so long?”
He suggested their delay meant they might have hoped there would be “nothing and no one left to recognise” by the time Israel finished its military offensive.
Additionally, Lavrov accused Western nations of sabotaging diplomacy on Iran by pushing for the reimposition of UN sanctions.
He characterised the rejection of a Russian and Chinese bid to extend the sanctions deadline as exposing the West’s preference for “blackmail and pressure” to extract unilateral concessions from Tehran.
