“Conversation of the mute with the deaf”. This image is usedl Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to describe his feelings today from negotiations with a British colleague Liz Truss. She flew to Moscow the day before to contribute to the diplomatic discussion of security issues in Europe and the situation around Ukraine, which London, along with other Western countries, is diligently fomenting. But diplomacy failed in the end.. According to Sergei Lavrov, the negotiations could have been broadcast live: Truss did not say anything new compared to what she had already said many times on TV at home. However, there is one exception. According to media reports, in the closed part of the conversation, the minister again flashed her knowledge of European geography, refusing Russia sovereignty over the Voronezh and Rostov regions.
The British Foreign Secretary’s car has not entered the gates of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s reception mansion for 5 years. Then, in 2017, Boris Johnson was still the head of the Foreign Office. Now – his subordinate Elizabeth Truss.
The ministers did not even pose for a photo – they immediately went to the negotiating table. On Diplomat’s Day, Sergei Lavrov has a most difficult conversation with one of the main opponents in the West. The minister considers it necessary to immediately warn his colleague.
“Ultimatums, threats, moralizing is a road to nowhere. Unfortunately, many of our Western colleagues have taken a great interest in just this form in their activities. I can’t call it diplomacy,” Sergei Lavrov set the tone for the conversation.
Negotiations are of such importance that Lavrov watches every nuance of speech, corrects his translator.
“The House of Lords,” says the translator.
“No, commons (communities),” the Russian Foreign Minister corrects the interpreter.
And then he completely refuses translation services from English.
“We all understand everything here anyway,” Sergei Lavrov adds, looking around his fellow diplomats at the negotiating table.
“Don’t need a translation? – clarifies the translator. – Thank you.”
Mrs Truss didn’t seem to have heard Lavrov’s words a minute earlier.
“We cannot ignore that more than 100,000 Russian soldiers are stationed at the Ukrainian border. I urge you to respect Ukrainian sovereignty. The war will be a disaster for Russians, Ukrainians and European security,” Liz Truss reads like a piece of paper.
Positions have been announced. The ministers are closed for negotiations. But the last phrase of Sergey Lavrov in English can still be heard.
“Okay. You did it for the press. Now the press is gone, where would you like to start?” Lavrov suggests starting a meaningful discussion.
But it turned out that London has no other topics and proposals. The head of British diplomacy seemed to have arrived in Moscow with one well-learned speech. All the arguments of Sergei Lavrov that the British data do not match reality have not been heard.
“To be honest, I am disappointed that we are succeeding in a conversation between a mute and a deaf – we seem to be listening, but we don’t hear,” Lavrov notes with regret. “I haven’t participated in diplomatic negotiations for a long time, which could, in general, live on the air, by and large, because we have not heard anything secret, nothing confidential, confidential, except for what is regularly heard from the high stands in London.
“I was definitely not dumb in our conversation, I clearly articulated the UK’s position on the situation. We are doing everything possible to prevent Russian actions in Ukraine,” says Liz Truss.
It can be seen that the conversation between the ministers came out as tough as possible. At the press conference, Elizabeth Truss continues to threaten.
“If there is a Russian invasion, Ukraine’s allies will impose tough sanctions against individual institutions and individuals. And we must also make it clear that Nord Stream 2 will not work,” the head of the Russian Foreign Office threatens. the military, which is deployed on the border with Ukraine, has been moved somewhere else. And then we will make progress.”
“Highly likely”, Sergey Lavrov immediately adds the “magic” English wording.
The remark of the Russian minister behind the scenes is not accidental. The famous highly likely (“with a high degree of probability”) is precisely the defining style of British diplomacy.
“I called the Minister’s attention today to what is highly likely and remains highly likely,” the Russian foreign minister points out, “Regarding Russia’s allegations of poisoning Litvinenko in 2007. No facts provided. No facts provided by the Skripals. We don’t even know where they are. His daughter is generally a Russian citizen! It’s not that they don’t give us access, they don’t tell us anything about it. In the same way, no facts were provided about Navalny. In the campaign to denigrate Russia The UK is playing a leading role in this regard.”
The ministers also disagreed on the understanding of the Minsk agreements. Sergei Lavrov proposes to read and execute what is written on paper and approved by the UN Security Council. Western allies and Kiev interpret the document in their own way.
“Foreign Minister Kuleba has bluntly stated that there will be no direct dialogue with Donetsk and Luhansk, since such a dialogue is not provided for in the Minsk agreements. This, you understand, is already exactly the school of Goebbels, and, perhaps, even surpasses the “art” of the main propagandist of the Third Reich. Because a lie is spoken on a blue eye, what is approved by the Security Council and written down in black and white is rejected.
Elizabeth Truss heads the ministry a little less than six months, but already had a bright ride in Estonia on a tank, offered help to the Baltic states across the Black Sea and admired the courage of medieval Ukrainians.
“Ukraine is a proud country with a long history. They have known invasions before, from the Mongols to the Tatars,” Liz Truss said recently without hesitation.
According to the newspaper “Kommersant”, knowledge of geography failed Trass today. Sergey Lavrov argued that Russian troops on Russian territory do not violate any rules.
“You recognize the sovereignty of Russia over the Rostov and Voronezh regions?” – asks his counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
“The UK will never recognize Russian sovereignty over these regions,” arrogantly answers him Liz Truss.
And only Ambassador Deborah Bonnert was able to explain that we are talking not about Ukrainian, but about Russian regions where the exercises are taking place.
“Unlike the exercises on its territory, which Russia conducts, after which the troops return to the barracks, those troops that are far beyond the territories of both Great Britain, and the United States, and Canada, are sent to the Baltic countries, to countries that are on the coast of the Black Sea, these troops and weapons, as a rule, never return home,” reminds Sergei Lavrov, “I foresee the full denouement of this whole drama that the West is playing out, trying even to make a tragedy out of it, although it looks more and more like a comedy, in the next : after some time, Western countries will know that the Russian-Belarusian exercises have ended and Russian troops have returned to Russian territory. And then there will be a big fuss in order to prove that the West has achieved de-escalation from Russia. Although in reality it will be trade air.”
Even with such, the worst relations between the two countries in many years, Elizabeth Truss is in Russia on a full-fledged two-day visit. Arrived the day before. And at night she walked along the snow-covered Moscow boulevards in a fur coat and a high fur hat.
She completed her mission in Moscow, but tomorrow Russian-British talks will resume at the level of defense ministers.