Russia had no choice other than to attack Ukraine, Lavrov tells UN

"The official Russophobia in the West is unprecedented. Now the scope is grotesque," Mr Lavrov said later in his speech

Sergei Lavrov addresses the United Nations General Assembly. Picture: AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

Russia made its case to the world on Saturday for its war in Ukraine, repeating a series of grievances about its neighbour and the West to tell the UN General Assembly that Moscow had “no choice” but to take military action.

At the heart of foreign minister Sergei Lavrov’s address was a claim that the United States and its allies – not Russia, as the West maintains – are aggressively undermining the international system that the UN represents.