US preventing Ukraine from accepting Russian demands: Lavrov

 Washington is putting pressure on Kiev’s delegation engaged in talks with Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the international track of the Leaders of Russia Contest on Saturday.

“Zelensky suggested holding talks and our president agreed,” he noted. “However, there is a constant feeling that someone – most likely, the US – is holding the Ukrainian delegation’s hand, preventing it from accepting the demands that I view as minimal. Still, the process continues,” Lavrov added.

 Ukrainian crisis marks culmination of West’s policy towards Russia

The Ukrainian crisis was caused by the policy that the West adopted after it had realized that Russia “won’t be obedient,”  Lavrov said.

“It’s not about Ukraine. It is the culmination of the policy that the West adopted in the early 1990s after it had realized that Russia would not be obedient as it has an opinion. It’s not because we seek to bully others all the time but because we have our own history, traditions and understanding of our people’s history, as well as our own vision of how to ensure our security and interests in the world,” he pointed out.

According to Lavrov, once Western countries realized it, they started trying to slow down Russia’s development.

He added that attempts to build relations between Russia and NATO had also failed. “We repeatedly suggested making equal agreements and ensuring security based on the belief that no one should strengthen their security at the expense of the security of others,” Lavrov said.

He emphasized that promoting economic cooperation had also turned out to be impossible because the “European Union was moving towards fully depending on NATO and the US.”

Russia open for cooperation with West but will not offer it first

Russia is open for cooperation with all countries, including Western nations, but will not be the first to offer it to the West, Lavrov went on to say.

“We continue to be open for any cooperation, including with Western nations but the West behaved in such a way that we are not going to come out with any initiatives,” he said at the International track of the Leaders of Russia contest.

According to Lavrov, many countries are now thinking about “how to continue to crawl away from the dollar in international settlements.” “Because it happened this way today and tomorrow someone else may fall out of favor. They [the United States] are sending their diplomats all around the world instructing them to demand withdrawal from cooperation with Russia and threatening with sanctions otherwise. They do it not only in small countries, but they also direct such ultimatums and demands to China, India, Egypt, Turkey – it looks like our American colleagues have lost the feeling of reality or are swelling with the ‘super-superiority complex,” he added.

Source: Itar Tass