Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov: Moscow is ready for larger-scale provocations by the West
Western provocation, the prospect of WWIII, and China’s closer stance with Russia are just some of the topics that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has spoken about with RT France.
“We will be ready for larger-scale provocations too. But our answer is very simple – if they talk to us through the media, we will respond through the media too, but specifically and in a correct manner,” Lavrov said, answering questions from RT France, Paris Match and Le Figaro.
Going further, he said a third world war is an unimaginable scenario, noting that “everybody would be sane enough not to let it happen.” However, an aggravating factor is the absence of any dialogue between the Russian military and NATO.
"I believe everyone will be wise enough to prevent that. However, we are certainly very much concerned about the total absence of any professional dialogue between the Russian military and NATO," he said when asked whether NATO drills in Europe pose a threat of a third world war.
Tensions are still high between the two, Lavrov said, citing the recent mid-air incident in which a Spanish fighter jet accidentally released an air-to-air missile during a training mission in Estonian skies. “Thank God, there were no casualties, but what if it would have landed on Russian soil? Everything is so close there.”
It all comes as the US is updating its nuclear doctrine, the top diplomat stated.
They’re creating low-power nuclear weapons with a clear intent to potentially use them in combat.
The toxic political climate in European capitals and Washington makes mending ties extremely hard, Lavrov added. While the European Commission remains “trapped” by countries opposing reconciliation with Russia, the American elites are also fueling tensions. “I think it’s silly to remain hostages to the whim of American lawmakers,” he said.
While the West continues to slap Moscow with sanctions and trade cuts, Russia’s relations with Beijing and other Asian powers are on the rise. “We needed to compensate for the low level of economic cooperation with Europe,” the foreign minister explained. “And we saw growing opportunities for that in China, India, Japan, Korea.”
Previously, Lavrov lashed out at the West while addressing the UN General Assembly. Some Western powers try to preserve their “self-proclaimed status as world leaders” and have no qualms about putting pressure on others, he said at the time.
Although he did not list the countries, he said they use “political blackmail, economic pressure and brute force.” The world now “has to pay a high price for these selfish ambitions by a tiny group of countries,” according to Lavrov.
Urging the world community to prefer dialogue over pressure, he suggested: “Colonial-era diktat and coercion should be sent into the archive or the dustbin of history.”
Owing to a bilateral treaty signed by Kiev and Moscow, Ukraine won’t be able to hold joint NATO drills in the Sea of Azov because this will require Russia’s consent, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.
"Now Ukraine wants to hold NATO drills in the Sea of Azov but it will be impossible to go there because our treaty with Ukraine requires mutual consent for the passage of warships into the Sea of Azov," Russia’s top diplomat specified.
"But they want this and they are being actively goaded into this," Lavrov stressed.
NATO is already highly active near the Russian borders, the Russian foreign minister noted. "[We are witnessing] an arms build-up on our borders along with the drive to upgrade the transport infrastructure in Europe so that it can be easier for US heavy armaments and, perhaps, the armaments of other NATO countries to choose our borders; [in addition to] blatantly provocative drills - not ours with China in Siberia - but military exercises in Ukraine, Georgia and in the Black Sea," Russia’s top diplomat emphasized.
The minister recalled that members of the NATO-Russia Council had met three times over the past two years without any results. According to Russia’s top diplomat, NATO’s representatives were only prepared to discuss Ukraine.
"I am trying to be within the bounds of decency," Lavrov stressed. He went on to say that this just means one thing, "attempts were made to use the NATO-Russia Council as another tool to blame all mortal sins on us, and another way of satisfying the whims of our Ukrainian neighbors who dream of sanctions being endlessly perpetuated and want nothing more than Russia to always be subject to intense criticism," the diplomat specified.
Lavrov noted that almost all forms of cooperation between Russia and NATO had been frozen, and mere telephone contacts between Chief of Russia’s General Staff Valery Gerasimov and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe Curtis Scaparrotti were not enough to eliminate the growing risks of unintended incidents.
More:
https://www.rt.com/news/441577-lavrov-rt-france-interview/
http://tass.com/politics/1026658; http://tass.com/defense/1026652
