West aims to surround Russia with 'sanitary cordon', making it 'rogue country' — TASS

The United States and its satellites are waging an all-encompassing hybrid war against Russia to surround it with a ‘sanitary cordon’ and make it a 'rogue country’, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, on Wednesday.

"Today the United States and its satellites are carrying out an all-encompassing hybrid war against us that has been prepared for many years using Ukrainian national radicals as a battering ram," he said. Lavrov pointed out that "the West does not hide its goals." "It is not only to defeat Russia on the battlefield, to destroy the Russian economy, but also to surround us with a 'sanitary cordon,' to turn us into some kind of ‘rogue’ country," the top diplomat said.

"The range of instruments is wide," he continued, "From direct military support for the neo-Nazis, which US Secretary of Defense [Lloyd] Austin directly called for yesterday, stating the need to provide the Ukrainian armed forces with precision weapons and to train personnel to ensure the success of the [Kiev regime's] new counteroffensive operations."