Lavrov says Russia was forced to invade Ukraine

Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the United Nations Saturday that Russia had no choice but to invade Ukraine because of the "inability" of Western countries to negotiate.

Seven months to the day that Russia invaded Ukraine, Lavrov accused the West of throwing a fit over the referendum being conducted in the Donbas and other Russian-controlled areas. The areas are voting on whether or not to become part of the Russian federation.

Soldiers going door-to-door in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine have been met with protests during Saturday's second day of referendum voting, official media reported, as the G7 nations condemned the poll as a sham.

Rallies were held in several Ukrainian cities as people urged their fellow residents not to take part in the five-day vote now underway in the Luhansk, Kherson, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, according to the Ukrinform press agency.

Lavrov on Saturday also accused the West of trying to militarily defeat and fracture Russia.

"What they want to do is to remove from the global map, a geopolitical entity, which has become all too independent," he said.

He ended his speech by saying that he was convinced that the stability of the world could be ensured, by returning to "the origins of UN diplomacy."