Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is addressing the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York, setting out Moscow’s position on global security and the emerging multipolar world order.
Lavrov arrived in New York earlier this week for a diplomatic marathon on the sidelines of the gathering, holding talks with senior officials from around the globe, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi, and many others.
His General Assembly address follows a heated UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine earlier in the week, when he reiterated Moscow’s readiness for negotiations but rejected calls to halt military operations during talks, arguing that a pause would allow Kiev to regroup and rearm.
He added that the conflict has deeper roots in NATO expansion, the failure of the Minsk agreements, and the rejection of Russia’s security proposals to the US and NATO in 2021.
The week’s diplomacy has extended well beyond Ukraine. Talks with Arab officials covered tensions in the Middle East, including the US war against Iran and Israel’s continued hostilities in Gaza. Other meetings focused on bilateral ties and coordination at the UN.
The General Debate is being held at UN Headquarters from September 22 to 28 as part of High-Level Week, with the theme: ‘Restoring trust, managing transformation: A United Nations that delivers for all’. Saturday’s address is the centerpiece of Lavrov’s visit. He will follow it up with a press conference later in the day.
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26 September 2026
Berlin has failed to cite any examples of Western-linked commercial ships being attacked by Russia, Lavrov said, stressing that all strikes on civilian shipping in the conflict zone were carried out by Ukraine.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul requested a meeting at “the last hour,” Lavrov said, adding that while Russia remained open to diplomacy, Berlin’s overture contained nothing new and essentially contained demands for more concessions.
Russia did not cut off any negotiations about the Ukraine conflict, Lavrov said, recalling the long history of Western meddling in the crisis, from the 2014 coup in Kiev and to the derailing of the Istanbul peace talks in 2022.
“You are still studying the essence of the issue and understand what these screams from Zelensky and his staff, who are completely under the control of the West, are worth,” he told journalists, stressing that Kiev’s Western backers are also “completely unreliable.”
The “metastasis” of neo-Nazi ideology has spread not only across Ukraine, but also in EU countries, including Germany, Lavrov told reporters after his UN address.
Lavrov has concluded his address to the UN General Assembly.
Stay with us for coverage of his follow-up press conference.
Dozens of diplomats took the chance to shake Lavrov’s hand as he left the UNGA hall, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
The ruling elites of many EU nations are “infected with the virus of racial superiority” and espouse extremist Russophobic ideas, Lavrov said.
“They pander to the leaders of the Ukrainian regime as they honor, in Kiev, hardened war criminals and Nazi collaborators whose hands are stained up to the elbows with the blood of Russians, Jews, Belarusians, Ukrainians, and people of other nationalities,” he said.
Russia maintains that reform for the Security Council cannot include new seats for Western countries, especially Germany and Japan, which have “embarked on a path of militarization and revanchism,” Lavrov said.
Moscow advocates for increased representation for Asia, Africa, and Latin America, supporting Brazil and India’s candidacies for permanent seats, he added. Russia also advocates for the African Union’s Ezulwini Consensus and Sirte Declaration, which demand that Africa be given permanent representation in the Security Council.
Lavrov demanded the immediate release of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, who was kidnapped by US special forces in January to face drugs charges in the US.
“We insist on the immediate release of the Venezuelan leader and his spouse, and that similar incidents do not occur in the future,” Lavrov said.
He added that Russia considers the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his family an “unacceptable manifestation of power dictatorship.” Khamenei was killed on the first day of the US-Israeli war against Iran in February.
Ukraine is the only country in the world that has legally banned a language, Lavrov has said, accusing Kiev’s European backers of turning a blind eye to the discrimination against the Russian language.
The EU is pressing Serbia to join Western sanctions against Russia in exchange for an “elusive” prospect of membership in the bloc, Lavrov has said.
The EU is making every effort to derail the Ukraine peace talks, Lavrov has said, adding that this sentiment runs contrary to the stance of the US, which seeks to mediate the conflict.
Lavrov has started his speech, noting that the world is undergoing tectonic shifts as it moves toward a multipolar order.
However, the Western global minority, which secured its dominance with five centuries of exploiting other nations resources, is attempting to maintain its privileges.
“The West increasingly resorts to brute force, acts unpredictably and recklessly, jeopardizing the lives and well-being of millions, if not billions, of inhabitants of our common planet,” he said.
Prior to the Lavrov-Wadephul meeting, Berlin demanded restrictions to media access, no Q&A session following the meeting, and a ban on recording opening remarks, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
“Western democracy, the beautiful garden,” she said on Telegram.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has met with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, marking the first direct talks between the top Russian and German diplomats in four years.
The meeting was called at Berlin’s initiative, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. A video from the meeting shows Wadephul shaking hands with Lavrov and Russia’s envoy to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia.