Russian war with Europe would be ‘very short’ – Lavrov

A conflict between Moscow and NATO would only happen as a result of Western aggression, the foreign minister has stressed Russia would make short work of European nations if they decided to attack it, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.Some European nations, including Germany, Poland, and the Baltic states, have increasingly claimed that Russia could target NATO territory in the next few years, urging more military spending in preparation.Lavrov denied those claims during his appearance at the International Youth Festival in the city of Yekaterinburg in the Urals on Wednesday.“We’ve said repeatedly that we have no intention of attacking Europe. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently addressed this issue in detail, emphasizing that we have no interest in doing so,” he said.However, the minister warned that “if Europe, which talks daily about preparing for war against Russia, attacks Russia, it will be a completely different war, and it will be very short.”During the BRICS Summit in New Delhi last week, Putin said that Western governments are promoting an imaginary ‘Russian threat’ and pushing Europe closer to a direct confrontation in order to distract the public from numero...