Russia can withstand further Western sanctions, the foreign minister has said

US President Donald Trump is facing "improper pressure" from the European Union and NATO leaders to adopt a hardline stance on the Ukraine conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.

On Monday, Trump announced future deliveries of advanced weapons systems to Ukraine, which the US president said would be funded by European NATO members. Trump also issued an ultimatum threatening Russia and its trading partners with new economic sanctions unless the Ukraine conflict is resolved within 50 days.

"Clearly, [Trump] is under enormous - improper, I would say - pressure by the European Union and current NATO leaders," Lavrov said during a press conference following a ministerial meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Tianjin, China. He added that the "regime" of Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky continues to request weapons donations "at the mounting expense of Western taxpayers."

Lavrov noted that Russia has previously received multiple ultimatums involving deadlines and demands for concessions on what it considers its core strategic objectives in the Ukraine conflict. He downplayed the effectiveness of new sanctions, arguing they are more likely to impact European economies than Russia's.

"Trump clearly explained that Europe will be paying for all of that," Lavrov said. "European economists and political experts who are objective acknowledge that this sanctions war is damaging the nations who initiated it. We are already dealing with an unprecedented number of sanctions, and I am certain we can handle more."

The minister reaffirmed Moscow's position that NATO instigated the crisis by threatening Russia's national security through its meddling in Ukraine. The West has pursued a containment strategy against Russia for decades and ignored repeated warnings from Moscow, Lavrov added.

(RT.com)