Top Russian diplomat says Western efforts to isolate Moscow increased ‘tenfold’

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday said Western efforts to isolate his country and defeat Moscow in the ongoing Ukraine war have increased "tenfold."

"The 'collective West' led by the US has literally 'increased tenfold' its efforts to systematically contain Russia and unleashed a full-scale hybrid aggression against our country with the aim of inflicting a 'strategic defeat' on us," Lavrov said in an address to the 8th World Congress of Russian Compatriots Living Abroad.

Expressing that the situation on the international stage has "not become any easier" in the three years since the last edition of the congress in 2021, Lavrov said the U.S. and NATO have "openly declared their intention to push Russia to the sidelines of global development."

Lavrov defined these efforts as "doomed to failure," saying that Moscow is continuing its "special military operation" and will achieve its objectives which were set out by President Vladimir Putin.

Lavrov said attempts to isolate Russia in the international arena have failed, arguing that countries of the world majority are strengthening their ties with Moscow in various formats and areas, and referred to the 16th BRICS summit in the city of Kazan as evidence.

"The peoples of the Global South and East understand that a sovereign, strong Russia is the most important factor in the formation of a fair multipolar world order, based not in words but in deeds on the principles of the UN Charter, not selectively but in their entirety and interrelation," Lavrov said.

"Such a world order will express the interests of all humanity, and not just a handful of countries of the 'golden billion,'" he added.