Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has today stepped up the rhetoric over sanctions currently being imposed, and the promises of more to come, by accusing Western leaders of wanting a change of regime
Tass news agency has quoted Lavrov as telling a meeting of the advisory Foreign and Defence Policy Council in Moscow.
As for the concept behind to the use of coercive measures, the West is making clear it does not want to force Russia to change policy but wants to secure regime change
He said that when international sanctions had been used against other countries such as Iran andNorth Korea , they had been designed not to harm the national economy
Now public figures in Western countries say there is a need to impose sanctions that will destroy the economy and cause public protests
Reuters has more on the Lavrov comments here
Lavrov- accuses the west of seeking regime change
A timely reminder that along with everything else going on right now there is still this major geo-political risk still bubbling away, in a week when the UK has announced its largest armoured deployment in Eastern Europe in 6 years, along with NATO telling us that its warplanes were scrambled 400 times this year in response to levels of Russian air activity around Europe not seen since the Cold War.
Reuters also carries more on that here
