On Ukraine, Russia Repeats Insistence That It Had No Choice

On Ukraine, Russia Repeats Insistence That It Had No Choice
Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov addresses the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters on Sept. 24, 2022. Mary Altaffer/AP Photo
The Associated Press
Updated:

UNITED NATIONS—Russia made its case to the world Saturday for its war in Ukraine, repeating a series of grievances about its neighbor and the West to tell the U.N. General Assembly meeting of leaders that Moscow had “no choice” but to take military action.

After days of denunciations of Russia at the prominent diplomatic gathering, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sought to shift the focus to Washington. His speech centered on a claim that the United States and its allies—not Russia, as the West maintains—are aggressively undermining the international system that the U.N. represents.