Moscow (ST) – Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov affirmed that the hostile approach adopted by the European Union toward Russia and its attempts to inflict a strategic defeat on it made the EURO lose Russia as a friendly country.
Tass quoted Lavrov as saying: “The European Union has ‘lost’ Russia and that is from its own making. The EU member-states and leaders of the Union openly state the need to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, as they say.”
“They are funding the criminal Kiev regime with weapons and munitions and sending instructors and mercenaries to Ukraine. These are the reasons why we consider the EU to be unfriendly . For our part, we will respond to these hostile steps , as we are governed by the national interests of Russia and the reciprocity principle commonly adopted in diplomatic practice,” he added.
Lavrov stressed that “if the West abandons the hostile approach toward Russia and chooses dialogue based on mutual respect with us, we will study their proposals and make decisions based on our national interests, according to what President Vladimir Putin defined in the new concept of Russian foreign policy”.
Lavrov noted that the geography of his foreign visits “reflects Russia’s priorities in the international arena” that are embedded in the new concept of foreign policy.
Najla Khoury