Europe, NATO and Russia have been facing mounting tensions between one another, leading to a Vladimir Putin ally delivering a chilling warning.
Putin's leading diplomat has been vocal about his thoughts on recent events, which have been seen as a mounting threat against Russia.
One of the country’s most powerful politicians - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov - has publicly warned that a ‘decisive response’ can be expected should any ‘aggression’ be directed towards Moscow.
At the time, he was speaking in New York at the 80th UN General Assembly, where he said threats toward Russia by Western nations were becoming ‘increasingly common’.
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He was supposed to talk about Moscow’s alleged violation of neighboring countries in recent weeks, which has led to politicians complaining that Russia is acting boldly.
Russia has already made an alarming threat against the NATO allies, should any of its jets be shot down by NATO. However, NATO alleged Russia violated the airspace of Estonia and Poland.
It was reported that three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets crossed into Estonia's airspace for 12 minutes, leading to Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna calling it 'unprecedentedly brazen'.
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He said: “Russia has violated Estonian airspace four times already this year, which is unacceptable in itself, but today’s violation, during which three fighter jets entered our airspace, is unprecedentedly brazen.
“Russia’s ever-increasing testing of borders and aggressiveness must be responded to by rapidly strengthening political and economic pressure.”
Russia denied the violation, claiming its jets were in Baltic waters and not Estonia’s airspace. But Romania and Latvia soon after reported that single Russian drones had violated their airspace this month too.
According to Lavrov, the nation is taking no more threats from NATO.
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He said Russia has no plans to start a war, despite Putin ally, Vladimir Solovyov, suggesting last week that it should drop two nuclear bombs on Oxford and Cambridge in the UK to send a message that the nation can win a nuclear war.
"Threats of force against Russia, accused of practically planning an attack on the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union, are becoming increasingly common," Lavrov said in New York.
"President Putin has repeatedly debunked such provocations. Russia has never had and does not have such intentions, but any aggression against my country will be met with a decisive response."
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This comment comes after President Donald Trump told the UN that NATO nations should simply shoot down any Russian planes they see in their airspace.
Lavrov later held a news conference, and when asked by US correspondent Mark Stone what the Kremlin's response would be if a nation did shoot down a plane or drone, he warned: "Try to understand that a drone, when it is flying not over our territory, but if it crosses someone's border but has left our airspace, probably everyone has the right to do with that drone whatever they consider necessary to ensure their security.
"But if there are attempts to shoot down any flying object, or indeed any object at all, on our territory, in our airspace, then I think people will seriously regret it, undertaking such a gross violation of our territorial integrity, our sovereignty."
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Lavrov also said at the G20 meeting on September 25 that if the UN charter is not put into action, NATO can expect retaliatory ‘regional conflicts’ and ‘global instability’.
He said: “[They] have already declared a real war on my country.”
The charter says the UN members must work to end ‘the scourge of war’.
He said: “A clear example is the crisis in Ukraine, provoked by the collective West, through whose hands Nato and the EU want to declare, have already declared, a real war on my country and are directly participating in it.”
Topics: Politics, Russia, Vladimir Putin, World News
Britt Jones