Russia is forced to wage a defensive war against the West in order to establish a new world order, Dmitry Kiselev, the director general of the Rossiya Segodnya international media group, said on Wednesday.
"Russia is now forced to have, according to various estimates, one of the best armed forces in the world. We are forced to wage a real war. For humanity, this is a defensive war that protects the construction of a new world. In this case, this war is a prologue to a new world order, a new system of security and balance," he told a panel organized by Sputnik.
Kiselev argued that the peace that came after World War Two only lasted for a generation, while the world order that should emerge after the end of the conflict in Ukraine would secure peace for generations to come.
"Russia's commitment to building a new world for everyone is demonstrated by the determination with which it fights on the front lines for this new order," he said.
Kiselev spoke during a round-table discussion that focused on the post-summit potential of the BRICS group of emerging economies. He warned that the West would use every means, including military force, to maintain its dominance. The expansion of NATO, the direct threats it poses to Russia, and the West's withdrawal from arms control pacts with Moscow demonstrate this perfectly well, he added.
Kiselev noted that Russia was developing and improving its weapons systems, in particular, in response to the deployment of NATO military bases in Poland and Romania.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that NATO member states are directly involved in the conflict not only by providing weapons to Ukraine, but also by training Ukrainian troops on their soil.