Russia's Lavrov lambastes the West as 'empire of lies'

UNITED NATIONS/MOSCOW — Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has dismissed the West as an "empire of lies" and said the latest United Nations proposals to revive the Black Sea grain initiative would not fly because they do not deliver on promises made to Moscow.

Lavrov was speaking on Saturday after a week of intense global diplomacy at the annual gathering of world leaders at UN headquarters in New York where Ukraine and its Western allies sought to drum up support for Kyiv.

In a letter to Lavrov last month, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres outlined four measures the UN could facilitate to improve Russia's grain and fertilizer exports in an effort to convince Moscow to return to the Black Sea deal, which allowed Ukraine to export grain through the corridor and helped deal with a global food shortage.