Western countries don’t know how to do business with Russia if they think it will buckle under the pressure of sanctions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
“To think that this wave of sanctions will make us ask for help and forgiveness is to be a bad planner and to know nothing about Moscow’s foreign policy or how to deal with Russia,” he said. Speaking to Al Arabiya and Al Hadath, the foreign minister noted that the unprecedented sanctions Western countries have imposed on Russia show that they have “always been Russophobic” at heart.
The Chancellor stressed that Russia had already drawn the “most important” conclusion. “We cannot rely on the West in any way, especially in the areas of economy, technology, food and other strategic daily needs. We will never say that we will not have relationships with anyone. When people realize that this was a big mistake and he made a mistake, we will try to renew relations in the future,” he added.
Referring to the new payment system for Russian gas supplies, the head of the Foreign Ministry assured that most of Moscow’s key partners have already accepted the new procedure. On the other hand, regarding the suspension of supplies to Bulgaria and Poland, Lavrov pointed out that these countries put their “ideological ambitions” ahead of the interests of their citizens.
The minister stressed that Russia had to announce the new payment system because its Western partners “stole more than $300 billion.” “In fact, they stole what they paid for the gas. In other words, they’ve been using our gas for free all these years,” he said.
Referring to negotiations with Ukraine to end the current conflict, Lavrov noted that the parties could have borne significant fruit if Ukrainian representatives had not “constantly changed their positions.” “Day after day, they were declaring diametrically opposed things,” he said.
The head of Russian diplomacy stressed that Moscow had “nothing against” the security guarantees that Kyiv had raised in the Istanbul round of talks and that were being given by the permanent members of the UN Security Council and some other countries. “The most important thing is to understand their coherence, especially with regard to the areas to which these guarantees apply,” he stressed.
According to Lavrov, Russia cannot allow the guarantees proposed by Ukraine to include the Russian peninsula of Crimea and the territories of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics. At first, the Kiev delegation accepted such an approach, but later changed its position. “We’re stuck because of their inconsistency, their desire to ‘play’ every time and, as far as I can tell, because of the instructions they’re receiving from Washington, London and other capitals not to speed up the negotiation process,” he stressed .
Referring to his recent statements about the threat of conflict over the use of nuclear weapons, the foreign minister reiterated that Russia is not “playing” with the issue, while it was Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy who promoted and encouraged such rhetoric. “He said that Ukraine had made a mistake in giving up its status as a nuclear power and that they might consider returning to nuclear weapons,” Lavrov recalled.
In this regard, the senior official mentioned the case of Poland, whose authorities recently said they would welcome the transfer of US nuclear weapons from Germany to their territory.
The foreign minister called on the whole world to follow the joint declaration of the permanent members of the UN Security Council on the inadmissibility of nuclear war. “For this to be the case, the West must discipline our Ukrainian and Polish colleagues who see no danger in using such dangerous words,” he said.
Referring to the issue of NATO’s massive arms shipments to Ukraine, Lavrov assured that Russia does not believe it is at war with the Atlantic Alliance. “Unfortunately, NATO itself believes that it is at war with Russia,” the minister said, referring to statements by senior bloc and European Union officials who reiterated that “Putin must lose,” “Russia must be defeated.” . ” Those who use this terminology believe that they are at war with Russia, the foreign minister estimated.
Referring to arms shipments, Lavrov recalled that Russia considers arms sent from the West as legitimate targets once they are on Ukrainian territory. “We know the routes that are used for these purposes. Once these weapons reach Ukrainian territory, they will become the target of our special operation,” he said.