OREANDA-NEWS   Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called German Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz and other European leaders political masochists because of their desire to "defeat Russia." The head of the foreign ministry stated this during a meeting with the editors-in-chief of the African media, an audio recording of his speech is available to <url>.

"He's trying to keep public opinion in the position that it is necessary to sacrifice everything: salaries, jobs, the amount of medical services and, in principle, social benefits in order for Ukraine to defeat Russia. This was recently stated, including by Chancellor Merz... these are such masochists, if you will, political ones," he said.

Earlier, British Defense Minister Wes Streeting said that the North Atlantic Alliance is ready to "defend every inch of its territory" in the war against Russia. According to the minister, at the same time, the NATO countries have no differences with the Russian people and they do not want a war with Russia. He stressed that NATO is a defensive alliance.