Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Moscow would do everything possible to “wake up to the reality” of the European Union and NATO, which it accuses of wanting to weaken and defeat Russia, Reuters and Agerpres reported.

His comments came on the same day that former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned NATO that a Russian defeat in Ukraine could lead to nuclear war.

Almost 11 months after the invasion of Ukraine, Russia is increasingly presenting this war to its own people as an existential struggle against the West.

In televised comments, Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would try to dissuade Western politicians from their “self-righteous” and “colonial” attitude toward Russia.

“We hope that there will be an awakening to reality,” Lavrov said. “We will do everything in our power so that our colleagues in NATO and the EU recover as soon as possible,” he added.

Russia and its closest ally Belarus are conducting new joint military exercises

Russia’s foreign minister made the remarks during a visit to Belarus, Moscow’s closest ally, which this week is conducting air drills with Russia, part of a long series of joint military operations that have raised concerns in Ukraine that President Vladimir Putin may try to drag Belarus into a war on side of Russia.

“We have a common position on the goals to be achieved and how to make sure that neither Russia nor Belarus is threatened by our neighbors – be it Ukraine or someone else,” Lavrov said in a statement after meeting with the president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.

At the same time, Belarus reported on the telephone conversation between the defense ministers of the two countries.

The joint air exercises began on Monday and will continue until February 1, using all military airports of Belarus, which says the programs are purely defensive in nature.

Ukraine has repeatedly warned of possible attacks from the territory of Belarus, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said last week that Ukrainian forces should be ready at the border.

Relations between Russia and the West are currently experiencing a period of “freezing” after the Russian army’s invasion of Ukraine last February, which Moscow calls a “special military operation” and the West and Ukraine call an unjustified and unprovoked aggression against a sovereign state, the first of its kind in Europe after the Second World War.

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