Monday, December 27, 2021

Lavrov: Russia Will Not Turn into "Besieged Fortress" Due to Sanctions | Farsnews Agency

(FNA)- The Russian leadership is not considering the possibility of turning the country into a "besieged fortress" because of the Western sanctions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an exclusive interview for the Solovyov Live YouTube channel on Monday.

"Will we become a "besieged fortress"? I am sure that this is not part of the plans of the Russian leadership. Absolutely," the minister said, TASS reported.

"The President [of Russia Vladimir Putin] constantly voices, in particular in his last speeches, at his big press conference, his commitment to expanding opportunities for the free development of society, for democratic principles," he added.

Lavrov said that if the West strengthened sanctions, Russia would find an answer but he stressed that Moscow was counting on the prudence of its Western partners.

"I am convinced that even if this scenario, which is fantastic for me, comes true, we will find an answer," the minister said.

Lavrov noted that there are politicians in the West who consider it useless to impose sanctions on Russia. Nevertheless he stressed that Russia will not change its beliefs due to the discontent of its Western colleagues.

"In case someone has not yet understood it yet - every day Russia proves its ability to solve any problems, and it will not change its way of life, its beliefs, just because the West got angry and closed some technologies there," he said.

Moscow won’t stoop to demeaning itself and ask the West to remove its illegitimate unilateral sanctions, Lavrov said on Monday.

"We have never asked anyone to lift sanctions against us," Lavrov stressed, adding, "We will not go with our hat in hand to anyone," the top diplomat vowed.

Washington cannot guarantee that the commitments undertaken would be fulfilled over time and Russia has never asked the United States not to consider it as an enemy, the diplomatic chief noted.

"We said we assume that neither Russia nor the United States have any compelling reasons not to be enemies," Lavrov said.

"We will neither pursue them nor have we done so. We do not request that these laws [recognizing Russia as the enemy and applying sanctions] be repealed," he added.

There is no way that Russia joins NATO, since the West does not want to have rivals comparable in influence at the global stage, Lavrov said.

Commenting on the question about the possibility of joining NATO on certain conditions, on an equal footing, the top diplomat noted that he did not assume such opportunity for Russia.

"I do not consider this possible, as the whole process does not revolve around NATO or the EU, it is about the West’s unwillingness to have any competitors in the international arena that are in the slightest degree comparable in terms of influence," Lavrov pointed out.

According to the Russian top diplomat, such attitude of the Western states explains their "hysteria over the rise of China", which accepted the rules of the game introduced in the global economy and "outplayed the West on its own field".

Operations of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have been paralyzed because its dispute settlement body does not function, Lavrov said.

"It [WTO] is largely paralyzed at present because the dispute settlement body until recently <...> was incapable and did not function," the Minister said.

This occurred after China "inundate" this authority with "absolutely justified and fair" complaints against the US because of unfair competition and the US, "having taken advantage of procedural tricks", started preventing the process of appointing employees to positions in this authority, Lavrov added.

Lavrov also said, the position that Western countries and NATO have taken on Ukraine is just utterly obnoxious.

"The position that the West and NATO have maintained is insolent. The Baltic States, the Poles and the Ukrainians are clearly egging them on," Lavrov specified.

"We are on our own soil, the clearest way to spell that out to our friends is what [Russian President Vladimir] Putin said at his recent press conference about what if the same thing happened on the United States’ border with Mexico or Canada," he noted.

"They are fueling [Ukraine] with weapons, boasting that they have provided the country with $2.5 bln worth of ammunition and combat systems since 2014," Lavrov pointed out.

The West cannot be taken at its word, since it betrayed the confidence placed in it by Russia after the collapse of the USSR, Lavrov said.

"Everything that happened with our relations after the collapse of the USSR, when the new ties were built, as the [Russian] president had repeatedly recalled, was a completely unprecedented level of trust, the willingness to become friends and almost allies <…>. But all of this, as we clearly understand, was a mistake. You cannot trust their word," Lavrov insisted.

The top diplomat commented on the statement made by former Russian Foreign Minister Andrey Kozyrev, who believes that Russia needs to join NATO. Lavrov noted that "many Russian politicians, especially oppositional ones, viewed the West as unconditionally ideal and an unquestioning leader".

"They do not see any flaws in the West, or see the damage that the West is doing all over the world, destroying countries as well as statehoods," the Russian foreign minister noted.

Lavrov also mentioned that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg claimed that the alliance had never promised to halt the Eastward advancement.

"Of course, they had," the top diplomat insisted, referring to the statements of the British diplomat who partook in the talks on the unification of Germany.

"This British diplomat wrote, I do not think that it will be difficult to find this quote, some incredible thing. He claimed that they sincerely promised that NATO would not expand, but of course, they did not mean it. They were motivated by the historic chance to build a new Europe, in which there will be no confrontation, while US National Security Adviser in 1977-1981 Zbigniew Brzezinski, talking to one of his colleagues, revealed that they deceived [Russia]," Lavrov said.

Unlike Moscow, Washington has been exhibiting a dangerous tendency towards simplifying the circumstances for the possible use of nuclear weapons, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov noted in an interview published in the International Affairs journal on Monday.

"We in Moscow are committed to raising the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons. An opposite trend has been seen in the United States over the recent years, with the means for nuclear destruction appearing to be perceived more and more as a battlefield weapon. This is a dangerous trend," the senior Russian diplomat stressed.

This view of the use of nuclear potential undermines strategic stability, Ryabkov specified.

"I believe that we are close to a point, beyond which diplomacy would play a subordinate role, despite all of its skills. Today, as it seems to me, political and diplomatic tools should be used first and foremost to settle this situation. And we outlined [in the Russia-proposed security guarantees] how to settle it. We urge that this issue should be taken seriously," the high-ranking Russian diplomat said.

What was known as the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 must not recur in the way it took place, Ryabkov emphasized.

"This is simply because humankind, including Moscow and Washington, also draws lessons from what happens. There is enormous experience in arms control and there has been significant progress in the development of doctrines and concepts on employing nuclear weapons," he pointed out.

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