United Nations – Russia’s top diplomat insisted to world leaders Saturday that his nation has no intention of attacking Europe, but any aggression against his country “will be met with a decisive response.”
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke at the U.N. General Assembly at a time when unauthorized flights into NATO’s airspace – intrusions blamed on Russia – have raised alarm around Europe in recent weeks, particularly after NATO jets downed drones over Poland and Estonia said Russian fighter jets flew into its territory and lingered for 12 minutes.
Russia has denied that its planes entered Estonian and has said the drones didn’t target Poland, with Moscow’s ally Belarus maintaining that Ukrainian signal-jamming sent the devices off course. But European leaders see the incidents as int