Russia has never had any aggressive plans to expand in Europe, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has pledged, Ednews reports via TASS.

Commenting on US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s remarks that if the United States stopped supporting Ukraine, Russia would win and go after Baltic countries, Poland and other neighboring states next, Lavrov said, "This comes from a man who holds a high-ranking position and cannot but receive expert views, including of Pentagon specialists who specialize in analyzing relations between Moscow and Washington and who cannot but understand what is going on in Ukraine and that Russia has never had and can never have any aggressive or expansionist plans."

He stressed that Russia was forced to launch its special military operation in Ukraine because the neo-Nazi regime in that country, condoned by the West, has taken to exterminating everything Russian. "Concurrently, this neo-Nazi regime was used as a tool to incur a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield in the interests of the West," he said at the Primakov Readings forum. "If this is not a direct threat to our interests, our security and to those who have thought of themselves as Russians since the times of their grandfathers, fathers and mothers, then, probably, there are no smart analysts or reasonable people in the West."

TASS is the general information partner of the Primakov Readings international forum and conference.