Russian Foreign Minister issues warning over attempts to disrupt Victory Day

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned Western countries that if they attempt to disrupt Victory Day celebrations through Kyiv, “there will be no mercy.”

According to the minister, Russia’s opponents are seeking to undermine what he described as a sacred holiday for the Russian people.

“I want to say this with full clarity and full responsibility: if what is currently being done through Ukraine by neo-Nazis re-emerging in the West happens, there will be no mercy for them,” Lavrov said during a wreath-laying ceremony at memorial plaques in the Russian Foreign Ministry building.

He stressed that Russia must eliminate any security threats originating from Ukrainian territory.

On Monday, speaking at the opening of the European Political Community summit in Yerevan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested that Ukrainian drones could reach Moscow during the May 9 Victory Day parade.

"With each passing day, those who have turned [Vladimir] Zelensky into a direct instrument, the spearhead of the aggression that the West is plotting against our country: an aggression that, in essence, has already begun, as they arm this Nazi regime in Kiev and supply it with the most lethal weapons, saying, ‘Let’s just hit Russia as hard as we can’" – said Lavrov.

Any threats to Russia’s security emanating from Ukraine must be eliminated: "It is no coincidence that one of the goals of the special military operation is the denazification of Ukraine, which fell under a Nazi regime following the 2014 coup d’etat orchestrated by the West. The president has repeatedly emphasized that among other goals, we must eliminate any threats to our security emanating from Ukrainian territory."