MOSCOW

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday compared the US with French dictator Napoleon Bonaparte and German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, saying it has united the West in its quest to inflict a "strategic defeat" on Russia.

"Just like Napoleon in 1812, Hitler in 1941, the US today has united almost all Western countries to once again try to destroy Russia, inflict a 'strategic defeat' on it and eliminate it as an independent player in the international arena," Lavrov said while addressing a gathering of Russian compatriots living abroad in Moscow.

The minister said the level of anti-Russian actions in the Western countries goes beyond all measure, and affects the Russian diaspora.

Lavrov criticized the West for abandoning traditional values and moral principles and propagating "tolerance brought to the point of absurdity."

"The religious symbols are being banned. In the EU they turn a blind eye on sacrilege of Muslim shrines, actions to destroy, without exaggeration, the Orthodox religion.

"In neighboring Ukraine, Nazis and anti-Semites are glorified at the official level, they are leading the case to ban the canonical Orthodox Church, to deepen the church schism," he stressed.

The diplomat warned that such a course "causes irreparable damage to the moral health of people, deprives them of their civilizational roots, leads to mutual alienation, depersonalization, self-destruction of society," and contributes to the growth of radicalism, aggressive nationalism, neo-Nazism, xenophobia and intolerance.

Attempts of the Western elites to impose their values, which are "alien" to other nations, lead to destruction, the minister emphasized, citing as an example the Middle East and North Africa.

Lavrov said he has no doubts that the current problems will be overcome, including with the help of compatriots, who remain the bearers of traditions, passing them on to children and grandchildren, contributing to the formation of an objective, unbiased image of the country.

"Russia as a civilizational state will continue to defend the moral principles of international life, promote the principles of honesty, truth, goodness and justice in interstate communication," he said.