The White House condemned Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for saying the United States assembled a coalition of European countries to solve "the Russian question" in the same way Adolf Hitler sought a "final solution" to eradicate Europe's Jews.

During his annual news conference Wednesday, Lavrov said by using Ukraine as a proxy, the U.S. and its Western allies "are waging war against our country with the same task: the 'final solution' of the Russian question."

"Just as Hitler wanted a 'final solution' to the Jewish question, now, if you read Western politicians ... they clearly say Russia must suffer a strategic defeat," Lavrov said, according to Reuters.

White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby called Lavrov's comments "absurd."

"Our first reaction is how dare he compare anything to the Holocaust, anything. Let alone a war that they started," Kirby said Wednesday at a press briefing, The Hill reported. "It's almost so absurd that it's not worth responding to, other than the truly offensive manner in which he tried to cast us in terms of Hitler and the Holocaust."

According to The Moscow Times, Lavrov, who last May caused a furor when he claimed Hitler "had Jewish blood" — comments that led to a rare apology from President Vladimir Putin — said "just as Napoleon mobilized practically all of Europe against the Russian Empire, just as Hitler mobilized and captured ... the majority of European countries and sent them against the Soviet Union, now the United States has organized a coalition."

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